You Can't Go Home Again
by Qwi-Xux
Summary: When government factions disagree on the best way to handle the Academy, River finds herself fighting not only for her freedom, but the freedom of her former 'classmates.' Eventual MalRiver, see 'Pairings' note inside. Some SimonKaylee
1. Prologue

**A/N: ** This leads into the sequel, which I'm also in the process of writing, and the sequel is Mal/River. This story, while not directly Mal/River, definitely leads toward that, while the sequel (_Tears of the Fallen_) goes into the romance. This also has a bit of Simon/Kaylee.

Also thanks to my mom (who is in the medical profession) for medical advice. Any errors are mine and mine alone.

Most Chinese translations were taken from various posters at fireflyfans website.

**Disclaimer:** It's not mine. I'm only playing in this world. _Firefly _and _Serenity _belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, and Universal.

* * *

**PROLOGUE **

The month following Inara's death had not been an easy one, especially on Malcolm Reynolds. River missed Inara, too—Inara had always been there supporting her without question. She had comforted River from nightmares in the months following her escape from the Academy, had stood up for her when others had been more leery. Still, River's grief was nothing compared to Mal's. She knew that the captain was used to death. He had seen darkness, been to the edge. He had lost soldiers and friends, and he knew, better than anyone, that death was inevitable.

That did not make it easier.

Mal suffered in silence, or what would have been silence to anyone normal. River could hear his pain in her head during the day when she flew _Serenity, _or during the night when she tossed and turned in her bed and tried to sleep. Mal didn't want comfort. After delivering Inara's body to her grandfather on Sihnon, he pressed on, losing himself in jobs, trying to talk and act normally, but there was a hollowness to it that River had never seen in Mal, not even after Book and Wash died. Then, he'd had a purpose, something to vindicate their deaths. In Inara's case, there were no monsters for Mal to lash out at, nothing to avenge. She had just been sick. She had hidden her disease well, but eventually it caught up to her, very shortly after the events surrounding Miranda.

River was in a position, more than anyone else, to interpret Mal's moods, because he was in her head, whether either of them wanted it or not. She knew when he just wanted to be left alone, or when he wanted company, even though he would never ask for it. He got used to her popping up during those times, sitting near him with a book or sketchpad in hand, allowing him his silence while letting him know that he wasn't alone. She seriously gave him a scare the time she made her way into his bunk uninvited during the middle of the night, mostly asleep and thus very disoriented, and laid a hand on his shoulder to wake him from his nightmares. She hadn't even remembered starting out for his bunk, and only vaguely remembered clambering down his ladder.

Of course, Mal woke up with a yell and took a swing at her that only missed because of her quick reflexes. He saw who was in front of him and let out a string of expletives. "River! What the _hell _are you doing down here?"

River sank to her knees, feeling rather dazed. What _was _she doing down here? "Sleepwalking," she realized. Her dreams had been… "You were calling."

Mal sighed and sank down onto his bed, running his hand through his already-rumpled hair so that it stuck up on only half of his head. "Wasn't doing no such thing."

"Your pain," she said. She stretched her hand out, resting her fingertips on his chest, feeling the tension bunched up in all of his muscles. "I feel it here. And here." She pulled her hand back and touched her forehead. "It wants to be let out." She sighed, very tired. She couldn't help feeling everything. She knew it, understood the science of what had been done to her. Mal might not understand the science completely, but he knew what she experienced every day. He knew it wore on her sometimes. "You were having nightmares. They invaded my sleep." She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold.

Mal rubbed his hand across his face. "River…"

"I'm sorry," she whispered, dragging herself to her feet, though her head swam dizzyingly with regrets and anger and loss that weren't hers. "I didn't mean to…" She turned helplessly toward the ladder and stepped onto the bottom rung, the cold metal pressing into her bare feet. She stopped and closed her eyes. "She needed it. She needed to know that she was loved. Not just…not just a desire of men's sexual fantasies, the illusion of love. You gave that to her, even if you don't think anything ever came of it. You gave her the courage to hold on, to face what she knew was coming. Love makes life worthwhile." Tears slipped unbidden down her cheeks and dampened the collar of her nightdress. She opened her eyes and looked at Mal. Almost plaintively, she asked, "Don't you think it's better to have loved her?"

Mal's eyes narrowed. "I ain't particularly keen on discussing this."

"I know. I just…" Mal had wondered whether it was stupid of him to have loved Inara in the first place, whether he just could have avoided a whole lot of pointless heartache if he hadn't been so stupid. River had never loved anyone that way, romantically, and she wasn't sure what would be worse—to love someone and never get to express it, or to express it and then lose it. Was Mal mourning just Inara, or was he mourning unrequited love? "I know what the darkness is like, Captain, the same as you. We both lived there for a long, long time. I know why you're there now."

Mal closed his eyes, and River knew her words had affected him. He knew what she meant. He knew all about the darkness. He knew, the same as she did, that time healed all wounds, but it could leave some nasty scars behind. Zoe understood this, too, but she wouldn't say it to Mal. Jayne, who had known some shadows of his own, would never be caught dead spouting words of consolation at Mal. Simon was too clinical. Kaylee was the most empathetic person River knew, and she could try to comfort Mal, but she couldn't understand the darkness. No matter how many awful things Kaylee witnessed, she had a light that didn't die out. Which was why River had to say it to him.

Silently, he waved her out, and without another word, she scrambled the rest of the way out of his room and closed the hatch. She leaned against the wall, hand pressed to her heart, tears still in her eyes. When some of the emotion had settled inside of her, she made her way back to her own room and fell into bed. She curled on her side, resigned herself to a long haul of raging thoughts, and tried to sleep. Mal didn't go back to sleep. River was startled awake during the night several times by strong thoughts from him, as he wrestled with himself, and she was awake when she felt something in his mind snap. She wasn't sure exactly what it was, but something in him had broken, hopefully allowing him to truly mourn Inara.

The next morning, she found him sitting in the mess, nursing a whiskey, looking as bad as she felt. He didn't say anything to her, but turned up one corner of his mouth in a would-be smile as she settled beside him, sketchpad in hand, and she understood.

Smiling to herself, she watched Simon and Kaylee laughing at the table, their hands connected over the top of it. She focused on their hands and began to sketch the way their fingers were intertwined…just like their lives, shared, in a circle that went on and would continue to live in the legacy of the child growing within Kaylee. Kaylee hadn't told anyone except Simon yet, and River wondered what Mal would think when he found out there was going to be a baby on _Serenity _soon.

The weeks passed, and the pain of Inara's loss grew less, for all of them, until the day finally came when Mal woke up in the morning without thinking about her first thing—River could hear his thoughts rolling over her, wondering about the contact they would be meeting, the things Mal needed to do to prepare for the meeting. And throughout the day, while Inara crossed his mind once or twice, it wasn't painful or regretful. It was a relief to River, who felt as though she had mourned Inara right along with Mal, just as she had with Zoe when Wash first died.

It wasn't easy, but they got through the worst of it. Love went on, even when things seemed empty and hopeless.


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

**Almost one year post-Miranda**

"You might wanna reconsider this," Malcolm Reynolds said calmly as he dropped his gun to the ground and put his hands in the air. Beside him, Zoe was copying his actions, and slightly in front of both of them, River's hands were slowly going up.

The leader of the group of bandits who had killed Fezz—Mal could see his contact lying on the ground in a pool of blood—laughed. "Yeah? Why's that? Y'all are the most pathetic group of thieves I ever did see."

"We got an honest job here," Mal said conversationally, noting out of the corner of his eye the calculating way River was eyeing the six bandits, and the way she slid one foot slightly forward. "You're the ones thievin'."

"You think you can come to our world and take off with our goods?"

"We're payin' for 'em," Mal replied reasonably.

"Well, you sure as hell ain't prepared for this place. Never did see a dumber bunch. She ain't even got a weapon!" The leader jabbed his gun at River.

"I don't like weapons," River said softly. "They cause too much damage. I don't need one. Besides, he's got weapons enough for both of us."

The loud click of a gun being cocked brought the bandits' attention behind them, where Jayne was holding two guns, both aimed at the bandit leader. Two of the bandits turned their weapons on him, but Jayne was unruffled. "Should I ought put a hole in him, Cap'n?"

"You do that and you'll still wind up dead," the leader said. "We's all arm—" His voice died as River swept forward in a movement too quick for Mal to follow, kicking the gun out of the leader's hand while grabbing the gun of the man next to him. By the time the bandits realized what was happening and turned their weapons on her, she had disarmed three men and knocked out the fourth with a solid kick to the head. The two others dropped their weapons as Mal and Zoe reclaimed their guns off the ground and Jayne jabbed his into the back of one's head.

River emptied the cartridges out of the guns and tossed them to the side, looking a little disgusted.

"She told you she didn't need 'em." Mal waved the men into the barracks nearby, past Fezz's body. "And I did warn you. Now, where's the goods?"

Ten minutes later, with the mule loaded with their cargo, they made their way back toward _Serenity, _leaving the bandits locked inside the barracks, awaiting the local law enforcement.

"That was a good call, darlin'," Mal called to River, who was in the back with Jayne, leaning out the side of the mule and letting the wind blast her face. "You were right on the mark."

"Aren't I always?" River asked wryly, turning her face to look at Mal. Her hair whipped out to the side in a long stream.

"Just wish we coulda known about it _before _Fezz was killed," Mal said. "He was one of the good men out here."

"Hey, but this way we got the goods without havin' to pay for 'em," Jayne said. River and Zoe gave Jayne respective looks that would have made a smarter man cringe, but Jayne just grinned. "Double payday for us."

"Don't get too excitable," Mal said. "The money ain't all ours. Belongs to Badger. In the case of a contact being dead, we split the money with him."

"Yeah, but he don't _know_ Fezz is dead," Jayne argued. "I mean, are we thieves or ain't we?"

River rolled her eyes. "You are such a dolt," she told him, turning her face to the wind again.

"Yeah, well, you're a freak, so who're you to talk?" Jayne retorted.

"At least I'm smart in my freakishness," River retorted without looking back at him. "What's your justification?"

Mal allowed himself a chuckle before saying, "Should I pull over and split you two kids up?"

They reached _Serenity _and Mal steered the mule into the cargo bay. Within moments, Simon was there, checking up on River, like he did every time after a job. He didn't particularly like her going out on jobs with them, even though he knew she could take care of herself. The choice had been River's, though. She had approached Mal shortly after the events surrounding Miranda and requested work.

"_You're already pilotin', River."_

"_I know. I want to do more. I can do more. I could help you on your jobs, read people. Make sure its safe."_

"_Simon ain't never been too keen on that."_

"_Simon has his life here. I have mine. This is my home, too, and I've been too lost to help. I'm not lost anymore. I want to be useful, Captain."_

And she had been, at that. She'd been going on jobs with them for six months now. Mal had tried to give her a gun the first time, and she had looked at him with her eyebrows raised. _"Weren't you the one who told me no touching guns?" _she had asked, a note of irony in her voice. She understood—this was one of his ways of saying that he trusted her. She had accepted the trust, but refused the weapon.

In fact, Mal noted that she steered clear of violence in any way she could. She would defend herself and the crew, but she never hurt anyone if she could avoid it. And she certainly knew enough ways to take a man down without causing harmful or permanent damage. It was something that certainly made her unique to this business. Mal felt that he had really gotten to know River the person, instead of River the crazy science experiment. Oh, she still had moments where she would start to say something off, but then she would stop, knowing it wasn't coming out the way she intended. She would close her eyes in concentration, and then slowly speak what she meant to say. What with her brain being cleared of the Miranda ordeal, and the meds that her brother gave her on when she felt she was having an off day, she had become an invaluable member of his crew.

"I'm fine, Simon," River said now, clambering out of the mule. "You don't have to worry."

"I think that's just my lot in life," Simon said dryly.

"Zoe? I wanna be off this planet before the law comes round to question us," Mal told her.

"I'll take us out," Zoe said, heading up the stairs for the cockpit.

"How's…Fezz, is it?" Simon asked.

"Dead," Jayne grunted, lifting a box off of the mule.

Simon looked startled. "What?"

"Some mercenaries got the jump on him," Mal said, unloading another box. "They thought to take the goods and our money."

Simon rested his hand on River's shoulder and closed his eyes slowly. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he kept his mouth shut, which Mal thought wise of him, considering no one had been hurt. Well, except the bandits, but they'd deserved it.

"Where's Kaylee?" Mal asked, shoving the boxes toward one of his smuggling compartments.

"Sleeping," Simon said.

Mal rolled his eyes. "Well, somebody wake her up. Somethin' goes wrong on our exit, I don't fancy bein' caught with our mechanic takin' a nap."

All eyes turned to Simon, who raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"She's your wife, and I ain't got a death wish," Mal said. "So have at it, Doc."

Simon grumbled something under his breath, but turned to head for his and Kaylee's bunk. Mal shook his head and turned his attention to storing his cargo, thanking his lucky stars that he'd never got anyone knocked up. Though Kaylee was normally the most cheerful person he knew, these hormones of hers made her have some insensible reactions to things sometimes, and Mal preferred to steer clear of her when she was acting tetchy.

"Mood swings," River said, likely reading his mind. "Induced by changes in her hormone pattern."

Jayne snorted. "You'd know all about mood swings, eh, Crazy?"

"Ah, women don't need no excuse for mood swings," Mal grunted as he took a particularly heavy box from Jayne and dropped it into the compartment.

"Yes, but we always have plenty excuses available," River said, rolling back on the balls of her feet. "It's our right."

"_Feng le _women," Jayne muttered under his breath.

Mal was inclined to agree with him.

:-:-:

Late that night, River sat alone in the cockpit, staring out at the stars. She really didn't need to be there—the autopilot was set and it would be some days before they reached Persephone—but she loved the quiet here, just her and _Serenity _and the stars. When it was late and the others were asleep, their thoughts quieted in her mind, only wisps of thought and dreams filtering in and out of her head.

It was nice. It gave her mind a break from the constant barrage of noise coming from the crew all day long. Not that she minded so much anymore; her brain had learned to process so many thoughts crossing through it, but sometimes it was overwhelming and gave her a headache. Sometimes the thoughts weighed down on her so heavily that she thought she might just topple over. It would bother some. Bothered Jayne, but he was the quietest of all of them, and his thoughts, while definitely not the most pleasant, were easier on her mind. Maybe because he didn't try to do a lot of complex thinking.

She sighed and tucked her legs up against her chest, wrapping her arms around them and laying her head on her knees. People could be so strange sometimes. Everyone had fears. River understood that. She had them herself, but she had done her best to overcome them. Fear only had power if you let it. For River, who had lived with so much terror after the Academy, it had taken Simon coming close to death to truly overcome that terror and face her nightmares. She _had_ faced them, quite literally, and come out stronger for it.

A soft beep brought River's head up, and she frowned slightly at the screen in front of her. There was a wave coming in. She answered it, and a moment later, a large man with a gray mustache appeared on the screen. His clothing and the star on his chest seemed to indicate that he was a sheriff, probably of one of the outer planets, but River wasn't going to assume anything. "Hello."

"Howdy there, miss." The man tipped his hat to her. "Your cap'n about?"

"Might be," River said neutrally, resting her chin on her knees. "What do you need?"

The man hesitated for a moment, his eyes narrowed, as if sizing her up. "I'm looking for Jayne Cobb. Was told he sails on this here boat."

A sheriff looking for Jayne? Big surprise. Still, assumptions could get them all into trouble, and Jayne might be a big, callous buffoon, but he was the crew's buffoon, and Mal wouldn't appreciate it if she got the crew into trouble. "Were you? I wonder who told you that," she replied dispassionately. She tilted her head to the side, without lifting her chin, and said contemplatively, "And isn't Jayne a girl's name?"

The sheriff's eyebrow went up. "Maybe this is the wrong boat. If you knew Jayne, you wouldn't say that, not to his face, anyhow."

River giggled to herself, but kept a perfectly straight face. "Sounds like a man with an awfully bad temper. Why are you looking for him?"

"If he ain't on board, there ain't no reason to tell you." Still, the sheriff didn't end the wave.

River lifted her head off of her knees and smiled pleasantly. "Well, then. I'm sorry I couldn't help you." She pressed the button to end the call, then counted slowly to three. It was a game of sorts. He knew that Jayne was on board, and River knew that he knew. It was just a matter of who would give out information first. Wouldn't be her.

There was a soft beep, and River answered the incoming call. To her surprise, the sheriff was laughing, big, hearty guffaws. "Seems Jayne's found himself with a decent sort o' folk. Who woulda thunk it? All right, then. Tell Jayne that ol' Tom is lookin' for him. Got somethin' that belongs to him." Still chuckling, he ended the call on his end.

:-:-:

The next morning, when Mal made his way to the kitchen after a decent night's rest, he found Kaylee and Zoe both there—Zoe was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of some sort of protein or another, and Kaylee was crouching in front of one of the cupboards, half of the contents strewn around her. Mal walked by her toward the coffee. "Mornin'. You looking for somethin' in particular or are you gonna empty out the whole kitchen?"

Kaylee sighed. "Mornin', Captain. I'm lookin' for tomatoes."

"Ain't they normally in the cooler?"

"They would be if we had any," Zoe said, her lips curling into a tiny smile as she glanced at Kaylee. "Seems our girl here's got quite the craving on her hands."

"For tomatoes?" Well, who was he to question? He could count on one hand the number of pregnant women he had ever been around. Living with Kaylee the past months had been an interesting experience, that was certain.

Kaylee sank back on her heels, rubbing her small bulge of a stomach almost absentmindedly. "Mm," she said dreamily. "And potatoes. All fried up in a big pan…" She turned her eyes on Mal. "But we ain't even got 'em canned. Or dried, or even anything flavored that way." She began shoving the food back into the pantry while Mal poured his coffee. She pushed herself to her feet as Mal sat down at the table. "Think I'm gonna have a talk with River 'bout food stuffs she buys on the next planet."

"Well, we'll be hittin' Persephone before too long, and might be they'll have food to settle your cravings." Mal took a swig of hot coffee. "Besides that—"

"Captain?" River's voice interrupted over the intercom. "There's a wave coming in for you."

Mal took another gulp of coffee, then stood to his feet once more. He gave Kaylee's shoulder a pat as he passed her, and quickly made his way to the cockpit, where River was sitting cross-legged in her chair. "Who's callin'?" he asked her.

"Alliance," she replied.

"What do they want?"

River gave him a pointed look. "They wouldn't say, and you know I can't read their minds when they're that far away."

"Right." Mal leaned over River's shoulder and pressed the button to connect with the messengers. He found himself looking into the face of a kid. Leastwise, it looked like a boy who had shoved himself into an Alliance uniform and was posing for the job of a man. 'Course, considering his pilot was an eighteen-year-old and his mechanic twenty-one, he couldn't say much about age. Hell, he'd been a kid when he'd left Shadow and joined the Independents. "What do you want?"

"Captain Reynolds?"

"What do you want?" Mal repeated.

The kid's eyes flickered over to River, then back to Mal. "I am Lieutenant Mathews, stationed on Osiris."

River stiffened ever so subtly beside Mal, a gesture so tiny that he wouldn't have noticed it had he not known her so well. Mal straightened and crossed his arms. "Well, fancy that. Osiris."

Mathews cleared his throat. "We are quite aware that you have Simon and River Tam on board your…vessel." There was a skeptical look on his face as his eyes flicked again to River. "My first order of business is to deliver River Tam a message. I will transfer that to you now." A few seconds later, Mal's screen beeped, indicating the message had been received. "My second order of business is to offer _you _a business proposal."

"A business proposal," Mal echoed disbelievingly. "After everything the Alliance has done to me and mine, you're offerin' business?"

"You might find this one of some interest," Mathews said stiffly. "The hospital in Capital City is preparing to send a shipment of medicine to some of the border planets. They need transport ships to carry the cargo."

"Really. You're tellin' me the Alliance don't have no other way to get it there?"

"Our ships have not been welcomed on the border planets," Mathews said even more laboriously, as if it pained him to say this.

"Hmm. Wonder why that could be. That still don't explain why you're sendin' meds, if you've been so unwelcome."

"To save face," River said softly. "Isn't that right, Lieutenant Mathews? The Alliance still needs control over the border planets. The settlers weren't too happy to learn that they could be attacked at any moment by monsters of the Alliance's creation. So you have to appease them."

Mathews eyed River wordlessly.

Mal nodded his head at River. "I'm inclined to agree with her. That leads me back to what I said in the first place: what in a _hou-zi de pigu _makes you think I would ever take the job? Last time we met Alliance, two of my crew died."

"You'd be very well compensated."

"Don't think I can be compensated for the dead."

"I meant for this job. Why don't you have Miss Tam open her message, and we'll contact you later? You might just change your mind."

Mal cut off the communication before Mathews could get another word out. He raised his eyebrows at River, who nodded and opened her message.

A recording of a very stately-looking woman appeared. She looked to be in her forties, and her clothes looked like they cost as much as a month's worth of food for Mal and his crew. She spoke in a very clear, cultured voice. "Miss Tam," she began, "I am Ari Velgese, member of the Parliament, stationed in Osiris. I would first like to apologize for any ill you feel you may have suffered while attending our Academy."

Mal's eyebrows went up. Any ill River felt she _may _have suffered? He wondered what this fancy Parliament woman would've thought if she'd been around River before the events of Miranda. A quick glance showed him that River had visibly tensed, her arms wrapped around herself.

"I was not a member of Parliament during the time you attended the Academy. You must understand that after the broadwave you helped send out concerning Miranda, many of the Parliament members chose to…retire. Those of us elected to take their place made it our first order of business to shut down the proceedings at the Academy. We have also revoked the warrants for your arrest, and the warrants on your brother, of course. We hope that this will be the first step in, if not a beneficial relationship, at least a passive one."

So they'd taken the warrants off River and Simon in hopes that they would secure River's cooperation—or at least silence—in the future. If they'd finally given up on trying to capture her or kill her, it would be a wise move on their part, considering how often and spectacularly they'd failed in the past.

The message blinked out, and Mal turned a speculative eye on River. "What do you think about it, River?"

"She's not being completely truthful," River said quietly. "Her body language spoke more than her words."

"Any idea what part weren't completely truthful?" Mal asked.

River shook her head. "The warrants will be easy enough to check, but the Academy—I don't know how they could afford to shut it down. There were others, my classmates…what happened to them?" She shivered. "They didn't have anyone to rescue them."

The thought of River's so-called school had crossed Mal's mind on more than one occasion, and the notion of a whole caboodle of trigger-happy, brain-washed teenagers with the ability to take down everyone in a crowded bar or wipe out several dozen Reavers single-handedly was not a comforting one.

Mal rested a hand on her shoulder. "I don't know, darlin'. Don't that I want to know. You think that's what she's lyin' about?"

"I don't know." River leaned her head back to look up at him. "Are you going to take the job?"

"Help the Alliance? Don't know about that. Might just tell them _gou tsao de _Parliament folks to stuff it."

"It would help the folks on the outer planets," River pointed out. "They need medicine."

"There is that, but there's other avenues for that, if the warrants are really gone. Besides, I don't want no business dealin' with the Alliance, even if they weren't lyin' about somethin'."


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

The reactions of the crew, when Mal told them what was going on, were equally skeptical.

"They's awful anxious to get us to Osiris," Jayne said suspiciously. "Offerin' work and whatnot?"

"Seems suspicious," Zoe agreed. "Might be tryin' to draw us out in the open."

"Might also be legit," Kaylee said. "The warrants really was revoked, wasn't they?"

Mal nodded once. "Yup."

"That'll be mighty nice, not carryin' fugies no more," Jayne said, leaning forward and shooting Simon and River accusing looks.

"We'll sure be able to get more jobs," Zoe agreed.

"I ain't gonna take it. Might be they're tryin' to give it to us as a peace offerin', of sorts, but I'd just as well steer clear of them. Besides, we got a job with Badger to finish. Let's do that, and see what comes after."

"While we're on the subject of strange waves," River spoke up. "One came in during the night for Jayne." She explained the contents of the message, and to Mal's surprise, Jayne began laughing.

"The ol' fool's gone and done it!" he said. "Wondered if the codger'd ever get to it."

Mal turned raised eyebrows on Jayne. "Who's old Tom and how come he knows you're on this boat? And what is it he's gone and done?"

"Aw, Mal, it ain't nothin' dangerous," Jayne said. "Tom was my pa's best friend, 'fore my pa gone and got himself killed when I was a kid. My ma would've told him what boat I'm sailin' on."

"So what's he gone and done?" Mal repeated.

"Married my ma. Bet him a good pile of money that he would, just before I lit off of Adonis." Jayne was still grinning. "He told me there weren't no way in the 'verse he'd ever marry a loudmouthed broad like my ma. Knocked him flat for that one." He looked at Mal. "Adonis ain't that far from Persephone."

"Aw, Captain, ain't that sweet?" Kaylee said, beaming as if it were her own wedding they were discussing. "Jayne's mama's got herself hitched!"

Mal sighed. "Suppose we might swing by after we hit Persephone. Can't say no to well-wishin' a mother on her marriage."

Jayne crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair, looking distinctly satisfied. "Or to a good pile of money."

:-:-:

River found herself sitting in the infirmary later that day, but not as the patient, for once. She still hated this room for its needles and medicines and machines, but this place was also part of her brother. The doctor, the healer, who only wanted what was best for those he loved. He had saved the lives of most of the crew in this room, and because of what it meant to him, River could stand to be in it. For a short time, anyway.

She sat on the little counter next to the wall, watching Simon straighten up the infirmary and catalog which medicines were running low. Most of his thoughts, though, were focused somewhere very far away, and it was this that had drawn her here.

"You're thinking about Osiris," she finally said.

Simon paused with his hand in the medicine cabinet, and then slowly pulled out a clear bottle. He glanced over at her. "Yes."

"You haven't thought about it in a long time."

Simon sighed and set the medicine in his hand on the counter, then turned to face her, crossing his arms. He studied her for a moment, as if debating whether to share his thoughts—though she could already see them quite clearly—with her.

"I just wonder…with the warrants revoked…" Simon looked at River, who raised her eyebrows.

"I know what you're thinking. It might help you to say it, though."

Simon shook his head in mock-exasperation. "As if your genius wasn't bad enough. Now you really do get to be a know-it-all."

River's eyes danced. "I can't help being perfect." Then she laughed, knowing how absurdly imperfect she really was.

"I just can't help thinking that I could offer Kaylee and the baby so much more than…well, than this." Simon said, waving his hand to indicate the infirmary. "But then—"

"Yes?" River prodded. "And you'd better say something sensible here."

"Brat."

"You know what I mean," River said.

"Kaylee loves this place," Simon stated.

"And you love it, too." When Simon looked at her with a skeptical expression on his face, River sighed. "Maybe not like you loved working at the hospital, but because Kaylee loves it. Because you want her to be happy, and nothing makes Kaylee happier than being a mechanic on board this boat. Except maybe having sex with you," she said pensively.

"River!" Simon exclaimed in shock, his face reddening. He stared at her for a moment, and then said, "You know, it's stuff like that that really reminds me you're better, so I suppose I can't tell you off for it. Too much."

River slid off of her perch, smiling at her brother as she walked over to him. "You wouldn't fit anymore. You'd be a puzzle with missing pieces, and you'd always wonder where the missing pieces went. Kaylee would be even worse." She laid her hand on his chest and her smile widened. "You're more of a rogue than you'll admit, Simon."

Simon smiled in return and rested his palm on her cheek. He would still worry about details, River knew, but there was only so much she could say. The rest he'd have to work out on his own. "Thank you, _meimei._"

:-:-:

"You're awful quiet."

River tilted her head to the side to look at Mal. "Opposed to the times when I can't shut up?" she asked mildly.

Mal cracked a smile. "Nice to see the sense of humor's still intact." He propped his feet up on the edge of his console. "Just meant that you been gettin' quieter the more days pass since that Parliament woman's message. And now you ain't said one word since dinner. Last night. Anythin' you wanna say before we hit Persephone?"

River sighed. "The Academy's been on my mind a lot. It still doesn't sit right with me," she confessed to him.

"Don't think it'll ever sit right with me, River," Mal said.

"No, that's not…I mean that…" River picked up one of Wash's dinosaurs—_plateosaurus_—which had somehow migrated over to her console over the past months—and fiddled with its movable legs. "They change their minds, and who knows why? Different tactics, but it's still politics. New politicians, new players. Same game."

The past year had shown all of the crew of _Serenity—_even Jayne, though he'd never admit it—that she was better. More than that, she had received a gift. Mal suspected it had been the Operative's last act to them, but whatever the case, all of her medical records from the Academy had been transferred to her on board _Serenity_, along with information on behavioral modification. Simon had gone over them with a fine-toothed comb, increasingly horrified and disgusted, with plenty to say about people who called themselves doctors.

The good news had been that the doctors at the Academy had only just begun to imbed her with behavioral conditioning when Simon rescued her. The first years had been spent on carefully sculpting and rearranging her brain so that they _could _imbed suggestions, along with all of the physical training and other assassin schooling—such as learning the quickest ways to kill a person, the pressure points that could immobilize a body, how to break bones cleanly. She knew that a body could be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds, given adequate vacuuming systems. She knew details about every type of gun that Jayne had ever heard of, and some he hadn't. She knew about bombs and detonators. She could throw knives, fight with a sword, but didn't need any of that to kill, because they had trained her body to be a weapon.

But they had only had time to give her a few 'triggers' before she escaped. One, the first one ever given to any test subject at the Academy, was to make her fall asleep. Another was to trigger her to take down anyone in sight, as she had done in the Maidenhead. Taking down individuals, or ordering her to do specific tasks, would have come later. That was why, when they had triggered her in the Maidenhead, they hadn't just been able to send a subliminal message for her to turn herself over to the Alliance.

It had taken a good deal of work on Simon's part to reverse those triggers. He'd had to call upon the help of one of his old friends, a psychiatrist, who had gone to med school with him. And it certainly hadn't been easy on River, but in the end, it had been worth it to know that the Alliance couldn't flip a switch in her brain to make her to kill or put her to sleep with a phrase.

"The others…" she said slowly, seeing that Mal was still looking at her. "The others trapped at that place with me. Even if the Alliance shut the Academy down, they could hold onto the others and find ways to tell the families they weren't coming home. They could make excuses, and no one would ever know."

"Exceptin' maybe in your case. You got family besides Simon? Never did ask about your family all the time you been on board."

River nodded slightly. "Our parents. They didn't think I was in trouble at the Academy. Simon didn't want me to know…but he can't keep secrets from me."

Mal chuckled. "I'd like to meet what person _can _keep secrets from you, darlin'." He paused, considering. "Or maybe not. So what? You wanna get hold of your parents?"

River shook her head. "They're probably being watched and their communications tapped. I don't want to put them in any danger. The less they know, the safer they are." And who knew what lies the Alliance had told them to explain the warrants on Simon and River? It was better, River thought, to let sleeping dogs lie, at least for now. "I want to contact Parliament."

Mal looked at her. "You don't think they'll just cover the truth all the more?"

"Maybe, but if they really are trying to placate me, they might give me some truths. They contacted me, after all. There wouldn't be anything strange about sending a reply, would there? And _they're _the ones that brought up the Academy. I'd like to at least see if I can find out where the other students are."

Mal crossed his arms and eyed her. "You try to dig too deep into somethin' the Alliance wants hid, they might decide it ain't worth playin' nice with us."

"I'll be careful, Mal," River promised.

"Very careful," Mal said. "Pretend like you're walkin' on nails. And let's take care of our business on Persephone before you go pokin' around in the Alliance's."

:-:-:

The Eavesdown Docks on Persephone were as busy as always, full of noise and smells and colorful sights. Mal stood at the top of the ramp and peered out at the mess of people and animals. "Right. We ain't stayin' here long, so everyone get done what needs to get done. Y'all know what's what, so get to it."

Kaylee headed off to shop for clothes, as hers didn't fit properly anymore, dragging a reluctant Simon along. "Aw, c'mon, Simon. It'll be fun!"

"Fun. Right," River heard Simon mutter before the two were lost in one of the passing crowds.

"River, darlin', ship's yours," Mal said, hopping onto the mule as Zoe drove it down the ramp, Jayne in the back seat. "Keep her safe till we get back, and then you can get to buyin' the food."

"Aye, Captain," River said, saluting sharply.

Mal rolled his eyes at her before Zoe drove away down the street, toward Badger's place of business.

River sat down at the top of the ramp, watching the people go by, some glancing up at her curiously and others walking by without a look. Ten feet from the bottom of the ramp, a vendor was selling woven blankets, and River listened idly to the wisps of thought reaching her, as the vendor sold the blankets far overpriced, claiming they were handmade, imported from Greenleaf—well known for their materials and dyes—when in fact, they'd been mass-produced in a factory right here on Persephone.

The vendor beside him was selling live chickens, and just behind him a man with a cart was selling an assortment of art supplies. River looked at this with interest, calculating how much money she had from her share of this last job. Badger still owed them half their pay upon delivery of his goods, and as long as he didn't try to cheat Mal out of the promised price, she would have a few coins to spare. Most of her money had been pooled for food and other supplies, but still…she needed a new sketchpad, and it would be really nice to have some paints.

Mal, Jayne, and Zoe were back fairly quickly, and River stood up and moved out of the way as they drove up the ramp, following the mule into the cargo bay. "It went well," she said without asking.

"Yeah, once Badger got it through his thick head that we wasn't gonna be cheated outta our half of the money," Jayne said. He shot Mal a look. "I told you we shoulda kept our mouths shut 'bout Fezz conkin' it."

"We got our right share of the money, and we still got Badger as a contact, so it was a good day," Zoe put in.

"Things go smooth here, River?" Mal asked.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," River said. "I was just wondering, if we got all the money…" She hesitated.

"Speak your piece."

"I'd like to buy some paint."

Jayne shot her an incredulous look—_moon-brained girl's gonna spend money on paint? Thought she were supposed to be some sorta genius—_ and shook his head, but Mal gave a half-smile. "Think you've earned yourself some paint, little one."

Ten minutes later, River's purchases had been stashed in her room, and she was ready to go shop for food. Mal had put her in charge of this the first time she'd come back with much more food for the amount of money she'd spent than he'd ever procured. He'd realized how beneficial it was that River could read the minds of those selling goods—it was impossible to cheat her.

"Jayne, go with her," Mal said, as he handed River the money.

"Aw, Mal, I don't wanna—"

"I don't recall askin' what you want," Mal replied.

"It ain't like she can't take care of herself," Jayne pointed out.

"Jayne, we go over this every time, and my answer ain't changed." Mal's answer was that River might be able to handle trouble, but if Jayne were there, people might not give her trouble in the first place.

Muttering a curse under his breath, Jayne jerked his head at River. "Well, move it. I ain't aimin' to spend the whole ruttin' day shoppin'."

River simply smiled at him, which she knew he would find infuriating, and jumped into the mule. Jayne grumbled about the fact that she was driving, but settled into the seat next to her, keeping a close eye on her. No matter how reluctantly he undertook the job, he always did his jobs to the best of his ability, even this.

For River's part, she loved shopping for food. Growing up, her mother and father had always had someone do the shopping for them. At the Academy…well, at the Academy, food had been the least of her worries, and she didn't have choice in the meals that were presented to her. Here, in the marketplace, there was something about buying food that made River feel more independent than anything else. As though if she could buy food like a normal person, she could do anything.

There was a balance to buying enough to stock them up on canned and dried goods, as well as getting fresh produce. Jayne, of course, growled under his breath every time he thought she dawdled, but she ignored him and kept her pace. Finally, with the mule loaded down with food, they began to make their way back toward _Serenity. _They were nearing the ship when the back of River's neck tingled, and she paused, suddenly alert. It felt as though someone was watching her.

As unobtrusively as possible, she gazed around for anyone that could be keeping an eye on them as they moved through the market. No one stood out, and she couldn't pinpoint the particular thoughts of someone who _might _be watching. It was too crowded.

Nothing happened as they drove up the ramp and parked the mule, but River quickly raised the ramp and made sure it was locked before helping unload the food.


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

Adonis was a backwater little moon, nestled in the innermost part of the border worlds. It was better off than a lot of the border worlds—a lot more trees and lakes than dusty deserts.

Jayne's mama lived on the outskirts of a small town, on a decent-sized farm with a nice little stream in the back. Several huge dogs came lumbering over to greet them as they made their way down the well-worn path toward the house.

The house itself was small and wooden, but it had little friendly touches—ruffled curtains hanging from the windows, a birdbath in the front yard, a porch swing, a flower garden—that made it look very homey, which Kaylee was very quick to point out.

"Aww! Ain't it sweet? There's even birds on this world! Did you grow up here, Jayne?"

"Mostly," Jayne said. He looked more relaxed than Mal had seen him in a good long time, and kept his hand on one of the dogs as they neared the door. It burst open before they reached it, and Jayne's mother was upon them. She pulled Jayne into a hug first, but made her rounds on all of them, spouting words of welcome.

She turned on Mal after she finished greeting Zoe. "And you must be Malcolm Reynolds!" She pulled back from Mal, and he finally got a good look at her. She was younger than he had expected—must've had Jayne pretty young—with brown-and-gray hair and a sturdy build. She had Jayne's blue eyes, but hers had a lot of laugh lines to them. Her hands, when she placed them on Mal's face, were rough and calloused. Hands of a working woman. "I can't tell you how grateful I am, you givin' my Jayne work. And look at you!" She had whirled to Kaylee now, and laid her hand on Kaylee's stomach. "A wee one on the way! Oh, bless your little heart, child, ridin' around on a great big ship in that condition!" She faced Simon. "And you must be the lucky husband?" She turned from Simon to River. "Well, ain't you a cutie!"

"Crazy, more like," Jayne muttered.

"Jayne Cobb! That ain't no way to treat guests!"

"Ma, she ain't—"

Mal cut Jayne off with a sharp look and smiled politely. "Thank you kindly for havin' us to your home, Mrs…Cobb, is it, or is that changed now?"

Jayne's mother waved her hand dismissively. "I'll spare you that trouble, darlin'. You can just call me Rose. Now, tell me your names, and come in, come in! Got fresh pies made; bet you could use a sit-down…"

She heard their names as they went into the small house, and then kept up a steady stream of dialogue as she led them towards the kitchen. "Mattie!" she called between breaths. "Your brother and his guests is here!"

A skinny little teenager came from somewhere in the back of the house. He looked, Mal thought with some amusement, how Jayne might have half a lifetime ago. He hid behind the brown hair that dangled over his eyes, and he was gangly and awkward, though Mal doubted whether Jayne had ever looked self-conscious. And this kid, after getting an enthusiastic greeting from Jayne—which included a fierce headlock—was most self-conscious, mostly when he saw the gals. He seemed almost horrified when Kaylee greeted him energetically, shaking his hand.

By the time the afternoon wore on, the kid had relaxed a little around most of them, though he was still shy around the women. Not Kaylee so much, but the fact that she was married and pregnant might've made her a bit less threatening in the mind of a young boy.

Jayne's mother was a fine hostess, and made even finer pies. She was also one of the most forthright people Mal had ever met, much to Jayne's frustration and the rest of the crew's amusement. She regaled them with tales of Jayne's childhood, and how many times he'd landed himself in trouble with the sheriff, who also happened to be her new husband. "Don't know what we woulda done, if Tom hadn't been so…understandin'," Rose said, looking at Jayne with a mixture of fondness and exasperation, while she stirred a big pot of stew at the stove. "Most troublesome child I ever did see, this one. Thought maybe he'd stay around and settle down with a nice girl, but didn't have no luck with that." Her expression turned a bit wistful. "Don't know why you still ain't settled down, Jayne, 'specially with such fine women on your boat."

Jayne choked on his drink, while the rest of the crew offered snorts of disbelief or flat out laughter. Mal clapped Jayne on the back. "Yeah, Jayne. Why ain't you settled with one of our fine women?"

Even Zoe gave a small rare chuckle of her own. "Don't think he's quite up for handlin' us, ma'am," she told Rose.

"You seem a sensible woman," Rose said, turning from her cooking with a wooden spoon still in hand.

"We all like to think so," Mal said. "Which is why she steers clear of your boy here. No offense intended, just takes a special kinda lady to handle Jayne."

Rose sighed. "Don't I know it." She turned her regard on River. "What about this lovely young lady? You seem a _xin gan_."

"She's eighteen, and—" Simon began in disbelief, while Jayne managed to sputter, "_Sweetheart?_" with a look of horror on his face.

Rose waved her spoon dismissively, interrupting them both. "Age ain't no matter. There was sixteen years between Jayne's pa and me."

"I ain't havin' nothing to do with the moon-brained _xiong-tsan sha-shou_ here," Jayne snapped out quickly.

Rose pointed her spoon at him in admonition. "Jayne!"

"Well, you wouldn't think of her as no sweetheart if'n you'd seen some of what I seen," Jayne muttered. "Got more'n a dozen stitches 'cause of this little '_xin gan_.' She's more trouble'n any man can rightly handle."

Jayne's mama looked ready to start beating Jayne over the head with her spoon, and River covered a smile with her hand. Mal caught her eye and winked, then wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry about our girl here, Miss Rose. Takes more'n Jayne to get to her."

"Mm," Rose hummed noncommittally, shooting Jayne a rather hopeless look before turning back to her stew.

River tilted her head to the side, her brow furrowing slightly. "Someone's coming," she said.

"Hear someone at the door? Well, it's nearin' supper. It's about time Tom got home. They're pushin' him hard at work these days, what with—"

But River was shaking her head. "No, it's…" She spun around, her eyes roving, seeing something in her mind that Mal wasn't privy to. He was immediately on alert, his hand going to his gun.

"Trouble?" he murmured.

"_Wode tian,_" River breathed, a stricken, almost panicked look on her face. She whirled around and pinned wild eyes on Mal. "They're _here._"

Zoe and Jayne both had their weapons out now, and Simon was holding onto Kaylee's arm, looking wary. Mal caught River's arm as she made to leave the room. "River. Who's here?"

"The others," River said, effortlessly twisting her arm out of his grip and leaping out of reach. "Two of my classmates."

Mal processed this information very quickly, pushing aside the questions—such as _what _the hell two of River's old schoolmates were doing here and how they had found them—and jerking his head at Jayne and Zoe. "Let's go. River, where are they?"

"Coming toward the house," River whispered. She took a deep breath, snapping into the situation at hand, and then she darted for the front door. "No more time!"

"Simon, get Kaylee and Jayne's family _out,_" Mal shouted, striding after River. "Back window, whatever, get them as far away from here as you can! Away from the ship, they might've laid a trap there."

Zoe and Jayne on his heels, he ran after River, leaving Jayne's mama sputtering words of confusion, into the living room, just as the door burst open. Jayne immediately dove behind the couch for cover, while Zoe took position behind the room's only chair.

Mal got a quick glimpse of two people, around about River's age—a blonde girl, shorter than River, and a taller boy with brown hair—before River had engaged both people at once, very nearly in the frame of the front door. Mal rolled to the side and grabbed a thick oak side table, pulling it over for cover. He peered around the side of it, gun tightly in hand, to see that River had her leg wrapped around the boy's, trying to knock his feet out from under him, while the girl had her own arm around River's neck.

In one swift movement, River pulled the boy over, using the momentum to flip backwards over the head of the girl. Then all three were moving so quickly, all kicks and jabs, in one huge tangle, and Mal couldn't get a clear shot, because every time he went to fire, River got in the way—pushed in the way, he quickly saw, and then he realized…they were reading his mind. Had to be, because when Jayne _did _take a pop at one of them with his gun, River was again shoved in the way. Somehow—it was too quick for Mal to figure out exactly how—it missed River's head. Her arms, however, were pinned over her head momentarily by the boy, and the bullet went in just below her left elbow.

"Hold your fire!" Mal called at River's cry of pain. _Zao-gao, _what the _hell _were they supposed to do when the attackers could read their thoughts? Couldn't sneak up on them, couldn't surprise them. It was all happening so fast. Wouldn't be but twenty seconds before it was all over, and what with River injured and there only being one of her, Mal feared the other two would win and kill them all.

Suddenly, all three hesitated, only for an instant, turning in eerie unity to look out the still-open front door. The next second, there was a loud _pop _and a flash, and River and her two former schoolmates went down in a heap.

"Flash bomb," Mal realized instantly. "We only got a minute. Rope! Jayne, rope, now!" He went over to the pile of bodies and found himself on the wrong end of a gun. The man behind it had to be Tom, given the star pinned to his chest.

"He's okay, Tom." Jayne reappeared and tossed a coil of rope at Mal. "Mal Reynolds, my cap'n. Mal—" Before he got any further, the two young attackers stirred, and then sprang from the ground with surprising swiftness for people who'd just been flash bombed. To Mal's surprise, instead of attacking, they pushed out of the house. Zoe took a shot at them, and Mal thought she might've hit one, but they fled the scene before he could be sure, disappearing around the side of the house so quickly it left his head spinning.

Tom sucked in a deep breath, and said, very calmly, "Good to see you, Jayne. Wanna tell me why my livin' room's shot to hell and just _who _those gorram kids were?"

Mal was more concerned, for the moment, with why River hadn't woken up the same time the crazed assassins had. Once he got a look at her, sprawled on the floor, he instantly realized why. Besides from the blood coming from her arm, a small, sharp knife protruded from the left side of her chest. "Find the doc, _now!_"

:-:-:

There had been no obvious traps around _Serenity, _and so they boarded the ship and locked it up while Mal, Zoe, Jayne, and Kaylee scoured it for unobvious traps. Jayne's family had also been brought aboard, just in case the assassins made another pass at their house, though Mal had his doubts to that.

"They didn't try to kill none of the rest of us," Mal pointed out to Zoe. "Didn't do nothin' but stab River and take off."

"Think they was just after killin' her?" Zoe murmured.

"Don't know. If that's the case, I can't conjure a reason why they didn't stay to make sure the job was finished."

Explaining things to Jayne's ma and brother, not to mention Sheriff Tom, had been a difficult feat at best. Mal left out great chunks of it, not bothering to explain about River's stay at the Academy, only telling them that she must have angered someone enough that they sent hit men after her.

Tom eyed him shrewdly. "I saw the way that little girl of yours was fightin', 'fore I threw that grenade. She was fightin' like them. Hell, boy, I'm a lawman; I weren't born yesterday. You can keep your secrets, so long as they don't hurt my family none."

"We had no ruttin' idea they was comin', Tom," Jayne said, coming up behind Mal. "You know I'd never've brought that sorta trouble round to my ma."

Jayne's mother rolled her eyes. "I been dealin' with the sorta trouble you bring round for years, boy, and it's been damn close to that."

"We'll have to leave," Mal said. "Don't think they'll come back to your place if we're gone." He couldn't guarantee it, and knew if they _did _go back, Jayne's family wouldn't stand a chance. Still, it did seem they'd just come after River. "We're headin' out soon as we check nothing's tampered with."

"Oh, yeah—Kaylee's found trouble," Jayne told Mal. "Engine room."

"It's a mess, Captain," Kaylee told him a few minutes later, as Mal stood in the engine room, trying to see what she was pointing out. Half of her head obscured by the wires she was fiddling with. "They muddled with the primary flux line, and cut the secon—"

"Kaylee, just tell me—"

"They was settin' the ship up to stall out," Kaylee said quickly. "It was on a timer. Don't know why, but we woulda been stuck in space; I ain't got spare pieces for the parts they futzed with. They did it clever, Captain. I almost missed it. Think most people would've missed it."

Clenching his jaw tightly, he straightened. "Keep lookin', Kaylee. I don't care if it takes all night, we ain't goin' nowhere till it's safe."

He stormed back to the infirmary, where Simon was pulling off a pair of bloody gloves, his expression as near unreadable as ever. Mal stepped into the room and looked at River. She was as white as the sheet covering her, and had an I.V. running into her uninjured arm. "How is she?"

"She's all right," Simon said shortly. "Overall, the injury's not nearly as bad as it could have been—the knife missed anything vital. Honestly, the bullet wound in her arm is worse. She needed a few stitches, but she'll heal." He leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. "There's something else. That knife was poisoned."

Mal looked at him quickly. "Poisoned."

"It took me a while to find traces of it, but it's definitely on the knife." Simon unfolded his arms and rested his palms behind him, on the counter. "They weren't trying to kill her. The toxin on the knife causes extreme weakness and fatigue. I can flush some of it out of her system, but she won't be fully recovered for about a week. It has to be administered directly into the bloodstream, through some sort of cut or broken skin."

Mal drew a deep breath. "They were aimin' to stop the ship in space and leave River weak enough that she couldn't fight back."

Simon looked at him grimly. "Whatever they wanted, they wanted her alive."

:-:-:

It was a long night for everyone, but by the time dawn had come, Mal was reasonably certain nothing else on his boat had been tampered with. Reasonably sure enough to prepare to leave, at least. They bid Jayne's family farewell, which included Jayne claiming his pile of money from Tom, much to Kaylee's disgust. "How can you think of money at a time like this, Jayne?"

Afterwards, they all met just outside the infirmary, except for River, who was still out cold.

"Zoe, take us off this world and set course for Osiris," Mal ordered.

"Thought you said we wasn't takin' that job," Jayne said, eyes narrowed in confusion.

"We _ain't _takin' the job," Mal said. "Seems that the Alliance attacked one of my crew and sabotaged my boat, and I wanna know _why. _Zoe, I want you to contact that kid who told us about the job—name of Mathews, posted on Osiris. Tell him I wanna have a word with that Parliament member of his who was so keen on makin' amends with River. She won't talk, then you tell him we'll make a special appearance on Osiris, and it won't be a friendly social call, _dong ma_?"

"Yes, sir." Zoe headed up the stairs, and Mal turned to Kaylee. "I know you're tired, darlin', but I want you in the engine room, just to make sure nothin' suspicious happens on take-off."

Despite her red eyes and the exhausted slump of her shoulders, Kaylee managed a smile. "Sure thing, Captain."

"Doctor, let me know when your sister wakes up. Maybe she'll know somethin' that we don't." Mal strode toward the stairs. "I want answers."


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

"Sir?" Zoe's voice rang over the intercom. "Got your lady on the line."

Mal set his drink on the table and stood up, heading for the cockpit. "Faster than I expected," he muttered to Zoe as he slid into the seat that was normally occupied by River. It always smelled like her, too, a faint scent that reminded him of fruit of some sort, something he could never quite pinpoint. Right now it only reinforced his anger that she was down in the infirmary instead of in her chair where she belonged.

Facing him on the monitor was the same regal face that had sent River a message days earlier. "Captain Reynolds," Ari Velgese said as he faced the camera. Zoe listened silently from Mal's seat. "I must say that I was surprised to hear you wished to speak with me."

"Well, I'm a mite surprised you ain't too busy to talk."

"Your name holds quite a bit of weight," Velgese said dryly. "But that's not why you waved."

"No, it ain't. My reason's an eighteen-year-old lyin' in the infirmary—been stabbed and poisoned by two of the kids from the Academy that was supposedly shut down."

Ari Velgese definitely paled at this. "_Lao-tian, bu_...but she is alive?"

"Yes. They weren't lookin' to kill her, far as we can tell."

Velgese looked more disturbed by this news. "I was hoping they wouldn't find her; you've been flying under the radar…"

Mal leaned forward, staring hard into the camera. "You _knew _this was gonna happen?" he asked in a dangerous voice.

Velgese straightened. "Not entirely. I was hoping to speak with Miss Tam soon, but I was away on business until last evening."

Mal's eyes narrowed. "Well, I'm a bit particular on those what wanna talk to River. Seems that most Alliance folk wantin' to chat with her aimed to have her dead or locked in some hole where they could play God with her brain. I ain't keen on either of those scenarios, so if you got somethin' to say, you'd best say it to me first."

Velgese closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them. "Captain Reynolds," she said, slowly and clearly, "as I told Miss Tam in the last wave I sent, I serve a new Parliament."

Mal scoffed and settled back in the chair. "You want me to believe you're different."

"We _are,_" Velgese said emphatically. "The old Parliament members approved the Academy project. I will not condemn them for it; they saw a need for defense and believed that could be the next best step in keeping our universe safe. _However,_" she said forcefully, as Mal opened his mouth to retort, "I do not necessarily think the doctors at the Academy went about the project in a proper fashion. Nor do my comrades newly elected to Parliament."

"Hm," Mal said. "Which part did _you _determine weren't proper? The part where you kidnapped kids, or where you cut out parts of their brains and tried to take away their consciences?"

"Captain Reynolds, I have no need to answer to you for the actions of the previous members of Parliament. We shut down the Academy. River Tam was one of nineteen subjects of the defense project. Out of those nineteen, six are dead, from various…causes. River, obviously, is on board your ship. Ten were put into psychiatric facilities to receive the best care possible to help with their…conditions."

"That leaves two unaccounted for," Mal said in his best would-be calm voice.

"Yes," Velgese said. "Yes, it does. Bennett Anderson and Iain Chen. We couldn't find them when we shut the Academy down, and we have been unable to locate them since."

"_Why _did they attack River? And while we're at it, how the hell'd they find her?"

"I don't know," Velgese said, spreading her hands. She looked at Mal for a long, hard moment. "I honestly don't even know that it was the two of them that attacked her."

"What's that supposed to mean? You just said—"

Velgese interrupted him, which only served to aggravate him further. "There are many factions of the government, Captain Reynolds. The Academy was sponsored by the Alliance, observed by the Parliament, but a lot of the funding and internal support came from a branch of the government called Blue Sun."

"Blue Sun sells lots of products," Mal said suspiciously. "Hell, Jayne wears a Blue Sun—" And it suddenly clicked. That day, more than a year gone, when River had sliced Jayne with that butcher's knife, he'd been wearing that Blue Sun shirt, and she'd cut right across the writing. _"He looks better in red…"_ No damned wonder it'd had an effect on her mind at the time, if those were the loons that chopped her up.

"Their outward influence is very widespread," Velgese agreed. "Internally, they have motivations of which not even my predecessors in Parliament were certain."

"Why're you tellin' me all this?" Mal asked guardedly.

"Because you need to know. The operatives of Blue Sun, the ones deep in their system, had a strange way about them. They're the ones that first put the warrants out for Simon and River Tam. It was the Parliament that sent the operative after her during the Miranda incident—"

"To kill her," Mal said.

"Parliament has been dealing with the Blue Sun organization since we disbanded the Academy."

"What? They weren't happy about you shuttin' their little butcher shop down?"

"They fought it, but…"

"It was a threat to your regime," Mal guessed. "If River exposed it, your grip on your utopia would've slipped even more'n it has since Miranda. Goes back to what River said to your friend Mathews about the Alliance appeasin' the people, except this time, you're just tryin' to appease her and cover your own asses. Am I readin' you right?"

Ari Velgese chose not to answer that. She cleared her throat and continued. "Since shutting down the Academy, every single student that we put in psychiatric care has disappeared. Some of them were in highly secure facilities. The security feed doesn't show anything; it was always disabled during the time the disappearances occurred."

"'Course it was." Mal suddenly felt very, very tired. Beyond tired. This _fei hua_ of people screwing around in River's life was getting old, and the effect it had on him and his crew was getting even older. "And what's your excuse for not tellin' us this in the _last _message you sent?"

"We were only just starting to get reports on the disappearances. I didn't want to raise any unnecessary flags until I was certain something suspicious was truly occurring."

"Shiny. Next time you feel like helpin', do us all a favor and _don't._" Mal was about to cut off the communication, but Velgese stopped him.

"Wait! Please, there's—" She sighed heavily. "River Tam is our last connection to the Academy. We were…" She hesitated.

"I don't got all day."

"We were trying to get some sense out of the other students. Trying to learn what, if anything, they knew about Blue Sun's inner regime, but some of them were rather unstable, and the ones lucid enough to talk were unwilling to do so. It still remains a mystery to us. There has to be one—or more than one—person at the top, controlling the whole agency. You don't understand how dangerous they've become of late. If they're the ones that have been abducting the former subjects of the defense project, then they have ten, possibly twelve, under their control. Twelve young people just like the one you have on your boat. Do you have any idea what that means?"

"I do," Mal replied. "I really do. It means the people that _your _government kidnapped and tortured and twisted into assassins were kidnapped _back _from you, and they can be used against you now. Don't feel nice bein' on the short end of the stick, does it?" He leaned forward again. "And there's a big difference between your assassins and River Tam, one that's a mite more worrisome than you might expect."

"And what is that?"

"River's been outta that place for a good long time. Enough time that she's herself, more or less." He stared intently into the camera. "I recall what she was like when she first got out of that place, and well…I wouldn't wanna be in your shoes, especially takin' into account that some of your kids must've been there a lot longer'n River."

"River might know something that could help us put a stop to Blue Sun before they get too dangerous _to_ stop," Velgese said. "At this point, we don't even know what they want, if they even have an ultimate goal. She might be able to help us figure out how to find the missing students."

"You think I care about the battles goin' on in the Alliance's factions?" Mal asked in disbelief.

"There has to be some sort of balance," Velgese said quickly. "Blue Sun obviously hasn't given up on trying to find River."

"You just said you wasn't even sure it's Blue Sun that's got the others," Mal reminded her.

"If it is, then this is your problem, too, Captain Reynolds, whether you want to admit it or not."

"And it's a problem we've dealt with before."

"Not like this. You can't hide from them forever, as was obviously just proven to you. In fact, given how fast they tracked River down, you should be a bit more concerned. River might be able to—"

"You want River's help, you'll have to talk to her. Oh, wait. You can't. Some idiots created weapons who hunted her down and poisoned her. Looks like you're outta luck for now." Before Velgese could protest again, Mal cut off the wave. He heaved a sigh, then turned to Zoe, who had remained silent the whole conversation. "Has the whole 'verse gone mad?"

"Seems like. So what's the plan?"

Mal had already considered this. "We're just gonna sail for a while. I don't wanna set down nowhere till River's better."

:-:-:

Mal was down at the infirmary as soon as Simon informed him River was awake. River heard them speaking just outside the door. "She's all right, but she's very tired," Simon said quietly. "Don't be surprised if she dozes off—that toxin was strong."

"Right." Mal appeared in the door. "Go get somethin' to eat, Doc. Or sleep. Do somethin'. You been in here a day and a half."

There was a moment of hesitation, and then Simon said, "Call if she needs anything."

"I'm _fine, _Simon," River called out to him, her voice heavy with fatigue. She didn't think she had ever felt so weak in her entire life. When Mal walked in and stood beside her bed, she smiled lethargically, and it was all she could do to lift her hand up to him. "Hello."

"Got yourself in quite the predicament here," Mal said with a small smile, taking her hand. "How you feelin'?"

"Mmm." River shrugged noncommittally. "I've been better. I've been worse, too, so I can't complain." Then she frowned at him. There was something shifting around in his mind, something he was trying hard _not _to think about. "What is it? You know something."

"We'll get to that in a minute. First I fancied a word 'bout those two friends of yours. You know exactly who they were?"

"Yes. Iain and Bennett. They both came to the Academy after me."

"Any notion why they were after you?"

"No logical hypothesis yet." River's tongue felt thick and uncooperative, but she did her best to speak coherently. "Their minds…strange. Not like I imagine it would be if they were triggered. I remember what my mind felt like when I was triggered. There were no extra thoughts, no jumble of psychosis. Like a dream, just you and what you had to do. This wasn't like that." She reached for the water that Simon had left on her table, but her arm felt like a wet noodle, and it sank against the bed before she could get the water.

Mal released her hand and gave her the cup. River smiled her thanks and took a drink before settling the cup in her lap. "Chaos. Confused, they were reaching for something, but I don't know what," River said. "Hide and seek. Wanted something, searching…." Her eyelids were feeling particularly heavy, but River fought closing them, wanting to convey to Mal everything she had learned. "They were trying to get my attention."

"Think they succeeded at that. Any idea why?"

River shook her head. "I don't know. I saw…they only put me in the way of your shots because they wanted to live. They didn't want you to shoot them, and knew you wouldn't shoot me."

"You _did _get shot, River."

"Just a scratch. Nothing vital hit. It was the same with the knife—a surface wound. They could have killed me. They could have taken down everyone in that house, but they didn't. Simon said they ran away."

"They did."

"You still didn't tell what you know."

"Had a word with your friend in Parliament." Mal studied her for a moment, and she heard the question in his mind before he spoke it. "She made a great big deal about Blue Sun."

River blanched, her fingers clenching her sheet. Her reaction did not go unnoticed by Mal, who frowned slightly at her. "They—" Her voice died, and River cleared her throat and tried again. "They were the ones who funded the Academy," she managed. She closed her eyes, wishing that she had the ability to push away the fear—_two by two, hands of blue—_that was dancing around her brain, but as that was no longer possible, she had to function through it. She opened her eyes and spoke slowly and clearly, "They handle a lot of the Alliance defense, but they make their money through a lot of merchandizing."

"That's what that Ari Velgese said. Seems to think they're some sorta threat to the Parliament or some such."

River looked straight into Mal's eyes. "They're very important," she said. "Very powerful. What Blue Sun wants, Blue Sun gets. They are a huge part of the government. They pull strings, and Parliament tries not to play the puppet. It's a power struggle."

"Seems the Parliament's decided to take control into its own hands," Mal said.

River continued to watch Mal seriously. "I don't know if they can win." She saw something in his mind, then, what he'd been trying not to think about. "Especially if they have the others. So the Parliament really did shut the Academy down," she murmured.

"All this is accordin' to that Velgese woman," Mal reminded her. "Could be tellin' half-truths, and I ain't aimin' to play the fool by trustin' what she says."

"Tell me the rest, please?"

So Mal did, outlining his conversation with Ari Velgese. River's eyelids were incredibly heavy, but she knew how important all of this was, and managed to stay awake long enough to hear him out. She wasn't surprised to hear that there had been six deaths—three of them had occurred while she was still at the Academy. One had been because of the experiments. Two 'students' had managed to kill themselves, before the doctors took greater precautions against that.

River's eyes were closing of their own accord. She fought it, knowing she still had things to say. "Strange," she murmured. "Bennett and Iain…wanted something different…don't know…" Her eyes shut, and she felt Mal's hand smoothing her hair back.

"You just rest a spell," he said. "We'll talk more later." The weight of the cup on her lap lifted, and she heard Mal's footsteps heading for the door.

"Mal…" she mumbled.

The footsteps paused.

Her voice was so quiet as she slipped into sleep that she wasn't sure Mal heard her. "They'll be back."


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

"What the ruttin' _hell _are you starin' at, girl?"

River blinked at Jayne, who was watching her with one of his angry expressions, his thoughts—_ain't never a moment's rest round her, she's like to be readin' my mind right now—_whispering through her brain. She still sometimes had a tendency to zone out, staring at those around her in contemplation. It always gave Jayne the creeps. This time, she'd been painting Jayne, and had wound up finishing the picture and still staring at him. Focused now, she raised her eyebrows at him. "Hmm. There are _so _many ways I could answer that."

Jayne gave her a look. "Can't even eat my food in peace no more." He grabbed his bowl of food and stormed out of the dining room.

River sighed and sank back against the chair in the little lounge area off of the kitchen. For four days, they'd just been sailing through space. Mal had decided he didn't need to pay Velgese a visit on Osiris, since she had talked. After two days in the infirmary, she'd had Simon take her to her room, but after another day had become terribly bored, and had managed to migrate to the dining area. She'd been occupying herself with her new sketchpad and paints, making portraits of the crew. She still felt physically weak, though not nearly as bad as she had a few days earlier. She could actually walk without support, but she got tired very quickly.

"—just sayin', sir." Zoe's wry voice preceded her into the room.

"Well, sayin' it ain't helpin' me none." Mal followed her into sight, and River glanced at both of them. Whatever they were talking about was dropped as Mal made a face. "You know, I'm gettin' fair sick of the smell in here. It was fine the first few times, but if Kaylee don't stop cookin' those gorram tomatoes, we ain't never gonna get the smell outta here."

"Don't forget the potatoes." Zoe went to the cupboard and pulled out a cup. "And it ain't a bad dish."

"Never said it was. Tastes just fine," Mal pointed out. "Just don't wanna smell it no more." He grabbed an apple off the table and a knife off the counter, then sat down in the chair opposite River and began to cut it up.

Mal shoved an apple slice into his mouth and reached over without asking permission to snatch up the pictures that River had been painting. He chuckled when he saw the first one, and turned it so Zoe could see it. "Fittin' portrait of Jayne."

River had captured Jayne in the act of shoveling food in his mouth, with something dribbling down his chin. She smiled mischievously. "I was thinking about framing it."

Mal shook his head, and even Zoe cracked a smile. "I'd be worried about you if I didn't know you could knock Jayne flat," he told her. He put the painting down and looked at the next one, this one just one side of Kaylee's laughing face. River watched Mal's smile soften, and he turned to the next one—Zoe. He silently handed it over his shoulder to Zoe, who looked at it and then stared at River—_don't know that I like that she sees me like this—_and folded it up before tucking it in her pocket. "Think I'm gonna hold onto that one," she told River, and River understood. She hadn't just painted what she saw on the outside, but what came through in her mind when she looked at the crew.

"I wasn't going to show it to anyone," River said quietly.

"All the same." She exited the dining area with her cup in hand.

River's eyes went back to Mal, who now wore an expression similar to what Zoe's had been a moment earlier. He looked at River a long moment, then slowly handed it back to her and stood to his feet. Without a word, he left behind Zoe, apple chunks in hand.

River picked up her painting of Mal and looked at it. She'd painted only his eyes. She had portrayed the smile that crinkled up the corners of his eyes. But in the eyes she captured all the shadows, the loneliness, the memories that haunted him on the inside. He, unlike Jayne, was used to her insights into his own mind, and as long as River didn't go blabbing it out—which she didn't—he really had no trouble with it. It was one of the things she appreciated about him, especially as the captain. She couldn't imagine anyone else going to the lengths that he had gone to keep her and Simon safe. It was one of the things that made _Serenity _home to her. The only real home she'd ever had.

A home that had been invaded.

River realized it the moment a tangle of disoriented thoughts reached her. Despite herself, her jaw dropped open. "_Zhen dao mei_," she muttered. She lurched to her feet and stumbled across the dining room, casting her mind out to the invader to determine what, exactly, was going on. When she had told Mal that Iain and Bennett would be back, she had hoped it wouldn't be when she was only half-recovered. Right now, though, she was only sensing Bennett's mind. It was not nearly as chaotic as it had been when River had last encountered her, but she was playing hide and seek with her thoughts. Still, River picked up a few things, and as she stumbled into the fore passage, she called, "_Mal!_"

Both Mal and Zoe came out of the cockpit in a heartbeat, and River looked at them grimly. "They're back," she said.

Mal cottoned on immediately. "_Z__ao-gao_! Jayne!" he bellowed. He grabbed his gun and swept toward River. "How—"

"They stowed away," River said quickly. "I don't know exactly how…they're in one of the storage compartments. I only have contact with Bennett's mind, but…she knows that Iain's here, too. Cargo bay. She's in the cargo bay."

Mal cursed again as Zoe and Jayne appeared.

"Wait," River said, holding onto the doorframe for support. "Please. She doesn't want to hurt anyone."

"You sure of that?" Mal asked her skeptically.

"Mostly," River said. "Her mind is clearer now then it was back on Adonis. She wants…" She threw her mind out toward her former acquaintance again, trying to capture her slippery thoughts. "Me. She wants me. Please. Let me try to talk to her." It was all she could do to stay on her feet right now, and she clung harder to the doorframe. "Remember, if they really wanted us dead, it would be done."

Mal considered her request for half a second before he jerked his head at Zoe and Jayne. "Let's go."

River used the wall for support and made it halfway to the stairs before Mal decided she wasn't moving quickly enough and came back to help her. Down the stairs, into the cargo bay, to find Bennett standing in the middle of the room, her body tense and coiled.

Zoe ran up the stairs to one of the catwalks and Jayne took point on the stairs. Both trained their guns on the intruder, as did Mal, who still had one arm supporting River. They got into position just as Bennett puked all over the floor. A side-effect, River suddenly realized, of the medicine she had used to shut down her life signs…she and Iain had to appear dead, so that River wouldn't detect them on board.

When she finished throwing up, Bennett straightened and looked up, her gray eyes locking onto River's. Memories were flying through River's mind, memories she had been thinking about a lot since her encounter with them four days earlier.

Iain had come to the Academy a year after River, a wide-eyed boy from one of the faraway border moons, where he had lived with his grandparents. His expectations, like River's, like every other naïve student who entered the prison masquerading as a school, had been high. He had never thought he would get off the little dust ball that was his home, but his intelligence had been uncovered by scouts from Blue Sun, like so many of the others. Bennett had arrived six months later, when River was already well into the program. An orphan from Ariel, she had no family to even question anything that went on at the Academy. She had shared a room with River for a very short time, and on her second day there had witnessed River on the brink of insanity, when she had sliced up her own mattress.

The standstill went on for several heartbeats, until River ventured a wary question. "What do you want?"

Bennett took a step forward, but stopped at the loud click of Mal's gun being cocked. Without looking at Mal, she focused upon River. "Talk," she whispered, and she sounded as though she hadn't used her voice in a while. One sudden, desperate thought, louder than her spoken voice, rose to the surface of Bennett's mind. _Help. Please._

River's eyes narrowed. It had been a common way of communicating, back at the Academy, for the students to _think _at each other instead of speaking out loud. It had just been easier. Some of those in more advanced stages of experimentation had more and more difficulty thinking clearly, and even further difficulty putting ideas to words. Sometimes, even when one of them couldn't verbally articulate what they needed or wanted, one or more of the students could usually determine what the other was trying to get across.

Of course, it meant that the doctors and trainers often did experiments on them to see just what they could pick up from each other, and that had never been pleasant. And it had been a long time since River had communicated this way—toward the end of her stay at the Academy, her mind hadn't been coherent enough to communicate much that made sense to the anyone.

"Help with what?" River asked quietly.

A few more words came to Bennett's mind, words and ideas. _Others…hiding for so long, running, never get away, never going back, have to stop them…_

River glanced over at Mal. "It's all right. She's trying to explain…"

"I don't hear her tryin' to explain," Mal said pointedly.

"In her mind," River said simply.

"You know what I'd like an explanation for? Why they attacked you, and what the hell they're doin' on my boat," Mal said evenly. "And let's not forget the sabotage they pulled."

"Wasn't us," Bennett said hoarsely, a frantic urgency from her mind assaulting River. "We had to stop them. We had to tell you…" She closed her eyes for a moment, and then opened them, a pleading look on her face. "Please," she said.

Mal didn't lower his gun, and neither did Jayne and Zoe. "We ain't helpin' with nothin' till I get some answers," he said evenly.

Bennett drew a deep breath, and River sensed that she was trying to put her knowledge and ideas to words. Very slowly, she said, "They were tracking you. On Persephone." An almost fierce light came into her eyes, which she had pinned on Mal now. "But we're ahead of them. A step ahead. We stopped them. They're not really stopped, it's only temporary, they're still coming. We found you on Adonis, and hid on the boat…" She trailed off.

Mal gave River a quick glance, which she interpreted as Mal's '_do-you-know-what-the-hell-they're-talking-about_' look. Before she could say anything, he continued, in a would-be friendly sort of voice, "You stabbed River."

Bennett shook her head. "No, no, we drugged River. We had to make her listen." Her eyes were back on River now. "You could have stopped us," she said, something inside of her mind begging for understanding. "We had to make sure you couldn't stop us. That you'd listen."

This, River could understand. During the whole Miranda episode, she had knocked Simon out to prevent her from putting to sleep. Action had made more sense to her than conversation at the time.

One thing was prevailing among Bennett's thought process, and River looked up at Mal. "She doesn't want to hurt any of us. Please…if I could talk to her, I might be able to figure this out. But she's so scared right now…it's not helping. She's scared for herself, and for Iain—who, by the way, could use a visit to the infirmary. He hasn't come around yet."

Mal considered for a moment, then rolled his eyes and sighed, lowering his gun. "Never a boring moment with you, is there?"

:-:-:

A short time later, everyone on board was just outside the infirmary, except for Simon, who was inside with the unconscious Iain. Iain himself was strapped into restraints on the exam table. Mal wasn't taking any chances. Who knew if these kids were crazy? Sure, River'd only really been crazy because of that whole Miranda horror being shoved into her brain, but he didn't want to take any chances. No matter what, they were strangers, which meant they were unpredictable, especially coming out of a dead-like state.

And he wasn't happy about having them on his boat.

The girl, Bennett, sat with River on the couch outside the infirmary. The two girls had been sitting there, perfectly silent, for near ten minutes, and it was unnerving to everyone.

The Alliance, Mal thought wryly, certainly had a way of throwing people off. Any casual passerby would've likely written River and Bennett off as completely harmless. Sweet and innocent. 'Course, that probably only served the Alliance further. What would be the point of creating assassins who would stand out?

"What the ruttin' hell are they doin'?" Jayne muttered. His gun was still in hand, his sharp eyes on the little blonde girl.

"I think they're talkin'," Kaylee said nervously, her hands crossed over her belly. "In their heads."

Jayne's grip on his gun tightened, and he muttered something about 'spooky' and 'unnatural.' It was fair creepy, Mal admitted, especially as Bennett seemed very jumpy. She kept on clenching her fingers together and twitching nervously at seemingly nothing. Finally, after what seemed a long spell, River stood up and made her way over to the rest of the crew. Jayne kept his gun and one eye trained on Bennett.

River took a deep breath. "I have some idea of what's going on."

Simon stepped out of the infirmary, looking ready to say something, but stopped when River continued. "I," she said slowly, "am being hunted. Ari Velgese was right about Blue Sun having the others." She took a deep breath. "Blue Sun doesn't like unfinished business. They've sent the others after me—and after Bennett and Iain."

Simon's eyes narrowed slightly, and he asked quietly, "How is it that Blue Sun doesn't already have Bennett and Iain?"

"Velgese said they was missin' from the Academy when the Parliament shut it down," Zoe pointed out.

"Iain was," River said. "He had been sent out on a…test run, of a sort. The Academy was sending some of the others out. Experimenting, to see if they were…ready. For missions. To see if their training was complete." She hesitated.

Mal crossed his arms. "So what went wrong?"

"Iain wasn't ready," River said simply. "He wasn't as advanced as some of the others, wasn't as broken. He wasn't as ready to obey orders without question. He had something to hold onto, something that held him back. He went back to the Academy to find that it was being shut down."

"What about the girl?" Mal asked.

River looked over to where Bennett was curled up in a little ball on the couch. "That's what he had to hold onto. He saved her," River said quietly. "He got her out while the Parliament was moving the others."

"Why?" Simon asked, his brow furrowed in confusion.

A small smile crossed River's face. "Because he loves her."

"_Qing-wah tsao de liu mang_!" Jayne cursed. "Bad enough havin' crazies on board, but lovesick crazies?"

Kaylee shot him a dirty look. "You got not one romantic bone in your body, Jayne Cobb."

"_Hao le ma_," Mal said, holding up his hand for silence. "River. Get to the part where they stowed away on my boat."

River nodded quickly. "They were confused, and scared, and angry. The lab rats were tired of running the maze."

Mal took a deep breath and let it out. "So what do two confused, scared, angry assassins do when they escape the maze?"

River looked at him, her brown eyes very sad. "They decided to see what they could do for the others. Blue Sun got to the others first, and so they followed one to Blue Sun's new facility. Then…" She hesitated. "Then Blue Sun sent out the more advanced students, ones that had proven to have successful test runs. To find Bennett and Iain. To find me."

"What about the sabotage?" Mal pressed.

"One of the others—I'm not sure who—found out I was headed for Persephone." River looked exhausted, whether from the after-effects of being drugged or from explaining so much all at once, Mal wasn't certain. "They couldn't get there before me. They hired someone on Persephone to sabotage _Serenity _so that it would stall in space. They hired a professional—snuck on board while I was shopping for food, got past the rest of you, and put a tracer on the outside of the ship to locate us when we were stalled. Bennett and Iain had already found me, though. They were watching on Persephone, and they removed the tracer before we left. They didn't want to do anything in the crowd on Persephone, or tip anyone to the fact that they were there, so they followed me to Adonis, made sure I was drugged, then hid on _Serenity _and injected themselves with bifodan so I wouldn't detect them."

"That's quite a tale," Mal said. He glanced again at Bennett, then back at River. "But I do not like 'em on my boat. Don't know what they might do if somethin' goes wrong. Don't know what might set 'em off."

"I don't know, either," River admitted. "They're both…well, different. Like me, I suppose, but not quite the same. They're here because they don't know what to do. They just knew they had to find me, warn me, try to get help. They don't want to fall back into Blue Sun's hands."

"Can't blame 'em," Kaylee muttered sympathetically. "Ain't no one deserves that."

"Still, it's the 'they're different' part that worries me," Mal said. "I don't want no trouble on my boat. Not more'n I already got to deal with, anyhow. Doc, how's the boy?"

"Still out. I gave him something to keep him unconscious for the time being, but did give him something to counter the bifodan and restore normal body functions," Simon said.

"Good. I want him to stay that way for now. In fact, might be wise to dope her." Mal jerked his head at Bennett.

The girl's head whipped toward him, and her hands clenched into fists. "I'm not crazy," she told him, looking for all the 'verse like an angry cat. "I'm not an animal that you have to _dope_ to control."

"See you found your tongue," Mal said, looking at her sharply. "But you'd best listen well. You came on my boat unasked, and you don't ever tell me what to do or what not to do on my boat. _Dong ma?_ Looks like you're stuck here till we set down, which'll be a few days at least, but in the meantime, you'd best tiptoe real quiet." Though what would he do if she decided to do something? River had already proven there wasn't much he could do to contain people like her. Still, if they kept the boy out cold, that might be incentive enough for her to keep nice and…normal. "I don't take kindly to stowaways."

"I was a stowaway," River pointed out in a whisper.

Mal shot her a look, too. "You ain't helpin'," he said, pointing a finger at her. He glanced around at his crew. "We need a plan."

"Think it's gonna have to be a hell of a plan, sir," Zoe said.

"She's right," River said tiredly. "This is worse than the Operative the Parliament sent last year. Out of the ten students that Blue Sun has, I don't know how many they've sent after us. But they'll find us. It's what they do. It's what they're trained for. Bennett and Iain just did it faster than the others, but it's only a matter of time."

Mal didn't like the sound of that at all. "Right. Then we need to come up with somethin' quick-like."

River just gazed at him, and Mal decided that he wasn't pleased with the look in her eye. He was even less pleased when she said, "I have an idea. But you're not going to like it."


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

"The new facility where the other students were moved…I don't like where it is," River began. "It's suspicious."

Now everyone was looking at her warily, and it was Kaylee who ventured the question, "Where is it?"

"Osiris," River replied.

Everyone was silent for a minute. "That's more'n suspicious," Mal finally said. "First the Alliance tries to get us to Osiris by offerin' work, and then that Parliament woman _from_ Osiris makes a grab for River's help. Seems to me Parliament's tryin' to lure us there."

"Or at least lure River there," Zoe murmured.

River nodded. "Something doesn't add up."

"You think maybe this Velgese woman from Parliament is workin' with Blue Sun somehow?" Mal asked her.

"I think she might know more than she's telling. No one expected Iain and Bennett to get away—no one expected me to know where Blue Sun moved the others. If she knows something, I'd like to find out what. And I can only do that in person. I can go alone. You can just set me down on Osiris; that way, if something goes—"

"_No_," Simon said forcefully. "River…" He stared at her, willing her to see reason. "You can't just walk into a trap."

River smiled. "I wasn't planning on it." He was worried now. "Simon. Someone's after me. I can't do anything to stop them from coming after me, and you, and everyone else on _Serenity_ until I know _who _is pulling the strings."

"You really think there's any way of stoppin' Blue Sun comin' after you even if you do know who's pullin' 'em?" Zoe asked doubtfully.

River took a deep breath. "Blue Sun is a huge organization," she said slowly. She hated talking about Blue Sun—hated thinking about them, had always avoided mentioning them if she could—but this needed to be said. "It has a lot of departments. Departments within departments, but the department that experimented on us…" Memories of such experiments flashed through her head, and she squeezed her eyes shut. "Shadow department, shadow government. It wasn't so big," she managed. "It's _why _we were so important. They needed us."

Bennett spoke up from the couch. "We were one of their biggest assets," she said. "It's why they've always looked so hard for River. They spent too much money, invested too much."

River nodded her agreement.

"If they're so small as all that," Kaylee said slowly, "why don't the Parliament just expose their…shadow agency? Then it wouldn't be secret no more."

"Politics. Expose Blue Sun, Blue Sun could expose things about Parliament. And just because they're small doesn't make them any less dangerous," River said quietly.

"I coulda told you that," Jayne scoffed. "Just look at little Crazy here." He jerked his head in River's direction.

"Could be the Parliament don't know how big or small they are," Zoe said. "Velgese said in her wave they don't know much about Blue Sun's inner workings."

"Could just be Velgese is stringin' us along," Mal said. "And if that's the case, I'd like to know why." Simon and Jayne both started to speak, and Mal cut them off. "_But_," he said, giving River a hard stare, "if I'm actually gonna consider lettin' you get near anyone in Parliament, you'd better have a hell of a way to do it so she won't see you comin'."

River managed a smile at that. "I think I can handle that."

:-:-:

"This weren't exactly what I had in mind," Mal said.

River gave him one of those looks of hers. "She won't see me coming." She stirred her drink, appearing far more comfortable in this setting than Mal did. Hell, he didn't want to be here at all. At least it had gotten the two lovebird assassins off of his ship. Sure, they hadn't caused any trouble in the few days they'd been on board—not even the boy, once Mal had finally given the okay for him to come around. Actually, he'd seemed a lot calmer than the girl, despite being at the Academy longer. Bennett was like a barely-controlled gorram firecracker, and it made Mal realize and appreciate how mild-mannered River really was in comparison.

Still, sitting in the open, outdoor patio of a fancy little restaurant smack-dab in the middle of the biggest city on one of the Core planets made him a bit twitchy, for more reasons than one—not the least of which was the clothes he was wearing. He felt absolutely ridiculous—these sort of clothes were fine for people…well, not him. The last time he'd been in clothes anything like this had been at that ball on Persephone, way back when Inara had been with Atherton Wing. And that hadn't turned out so well.

But here he was, on Osiris, trying to look like he fit in. River's two friends and Jayne were outside the restaurant, keeping watch, but he didn't see them and really didn't expect to. He just hoped things actually _went _as planned for once, because here, the moment any fighting started, the feds would sweep down on them in a heartbeat.

When River had spliced into the computer system to alter the reservations for this top-class restaurant, she had chosen this particular table carefully, and Mal saw why. Someone had had the bright idea of putting a huge sculpture right in the middle of the outdoor patio. He'd yet to identify what, exactly, it was, except that it was one of the ugliest damn things he'd ever seen, and he'd seen a lot of ugly damn things in his life. It also made him feel partly blind, as the edges of the statue blocked two sides of their table from the city view. From this point, he could see only the back of the restaurant and the large office building across the street.

"She late?" Mal asked, glancing down at the fancy watch he had borrowed from Simon.

"Not yet," River replied, swinging her leg back and forth idly, while her eyes drifted across the crowd around the restaurant. Mal still found the dressy shoes she was wearing a mite funny, as she was always either barefoot or wearing huge combat boots. River obviously picked up on this thought, as she made a face. "I don't like them," she said, motioning her feet. "I used to have to wear them all the time."

Sometimes Mal had a hard time remembering that River had actually grown up here, in this very city. That she'd come from a family with a lot of money, even eaten at this restaurant, which was how she knew its layout. It was a lot easier to recall this when he looked at Simon, but River seemed to fit a lot more out in the black on _Serenity_ than here on this creepy-neat, structured place. It was—

"Stifling," River said, again reading his mind.

Mal looked at her sideways. "Some people might find that annoyin'."

River only smiled indulgently. "You don't."

Mal was about to reply to that, but Iain's voice came through his earpiece. "Target has arrived. Entering with three watchdogs."

So Velgese had shown up for her reservation, with three bodyguards. So far, so good. It wasn't long before Mal saw one of the bodyguards come out the back door and look around before speaking into his radio. Then Ari Velgese herself stepped out, flanked by two more bodyguards, and they moved straight toward Mal and River. River had her nose buried in a menu, and subtly knocked Mal's fork onto the floor. As Velgese approached, Mal bent to get it, straightening only when she had passed. By then, she was nowhere in sight, which was the reason River had chosen this table. Ari Velgese's regular table was on the other side of the hideous sculpture, several tables past it.

"Well, we're here," Mal began. "Now—"

Iain's voice burst through the transceiver in Mal's ear again. "Hold, hold! You have an incoming. It's Hiro."

Iain sounded mildly surprised, and River looked very surprised and very wary, which did not bode well for Mal. If they knew this person, it stood to reason that Hiro was another gorram Academy kid. Shiny.

River sank back into her seat, very carefully not looking behind her at the back door of the restaurant. Mal, who had a perfect view of the door, saw the man who walked through it. He was at least a few years older than River, and Mal would've thought him just another guy off the rich Osiris streets, but for the way he carried himself. The same way River did, the same way he had seen Iain and Bennett did. The way anyone trained to use their body as a weapon did.

He walked right past their table without a glance, and Mal looked sharply at River. River looked back at him with wide eyes. "The crowd," she whispered. "Too many people. He doesn't know we're here."

Everything they said was being transmitted through their radios, and Iain pointed out, "He doesn't know you're there _yet_."

"What is _he _doin' here?" Mal demanded.

River's head was tilted to the side. "I don't know. I'm trying to find Ari Velgese's specific thoughts…there are so many people here…" Then her face cleared. "Have you had any luck?" she asked in a low voice.

Mal frowned at her, wondering what she was on about now, but then River answered herself. "She's good at covering her trail, but we'll find her."

Then it dawned on him that she was reading a conversation—maybe between Velgese and the new assassin. Hiro. While he always did find it a bit disturbing to hear other people's words coming out of River's mouth, he couldn't deny its usefulness. "What about the other two?" River continued. "Have you found them?"

"Not since we traced them to Adonis. We believe they are either with River Tam or are tracking her."

"That is the _last _thing we need. You should have stopped them by now. You're _trained _to do this."

"So are they. We will find them."

"Quickly, please. The longer they're free, the more dangerous they are to us. In the meantime, I asked you here to—" River broke off and turned to Mal, her eyes wide. "I know what's really going on now…it's Parliament. It's all a lie…we have to—"

"_River?_"

Mal jerked his head in the direction of the new voice, and River was startled into silence. A middle-aged woman was staring at River with wide eyes. She looked just like any other wealthy, high-class woman in a wealthy, high-class restaurant. However, the fact that she'd called out River's name when an assassin _hunting _for her was present was a very bad thing, especially as River leapt to her feet, tearing her eyes off the strange woman. "Hiro knows I'm here now."

Sure enough, the man came sprinting around the side of the ugly sculpture, but River was already moving to face him, kicking off her uncomfortable-looking shoes as she ran. And for the second time in two weeks, she met another one of her fellow assassins in combat.

This one had pulled a gun from somewhere. He was mighty determined to hold onto it, too, and was doing his best to shoot River, who expertly avoided such an end. They hadn't been sure whether or not Blue Sun wanted River alive, but all this shooting seemed indicate they'd rather have her dead.

If it was Blue Sun—River had just said it was all a lie.

Customers at the restaurant were yelling and screaming, and the loud wail of an alarm told Mal that the feds were on the way. "Zoe!" he said into his radio. "Get the ship ready! We're comin' back soon!" Hopefully. And hopefully not in pieces.

Zoe's voice crackled back. "Aye, Captain."

Mal noticed Velgese being ushered into the back door of the restaurant, but her escape was a secondary concern to River's battle. He wasn't sure if there was anything he could do for River without making the situation worse.

The blasted woman who'd blown their cover was standing not five feet from Mal, staring at River as if seeing a ghost. "Sweet heaven above…" she gasped, as River finally managed to pin Hiro to the ground and wrest the gun from his grip.

In the split second that Hiro was immobile, he suddenly went limp, and Mal immediately saw why—he'd taken a bullet to the head. It took Mal a moment to realize that the shot had come from the direction of the office building across the street.

Then the security field around the restaurant went up. Mal had been wondering when it would. Most buildings on Core planets—even little restaurants—had security fields that could be activated at a moment's notice, to keep trouble out. Or in, Mal supposed. This one shimmered along the perimeter of the restaurant, rising at least ten feet high.

River stood and fell back a step, a look of shock on her face as she stared at Hiro's body. Except for a few people in hysterics, the crowd at the restaurant was perfectly silent, staring in utter astonishment at River and the downed man.

Out on the street, through the transparent security field, Mal could see a dozen or so fed vehicles pulling up to the restaurant. That was about when the crowd broke into panicked clamor again, and he used the cover of voices to talk into his transceiver. "River. Get out of here."

"I can't leave you—"

"Yes, you can. Might be they don't know I'm here, but they damn well know you are. I'll find my way out. If you don't hear from me within an hour, you can start worryin'."

"But—"

"_Ma shang!_"

River hesitated a moment longer, and then she tucked Hiro's gun into her skirt and raced over to the side of the restaurant. She used her hands and bare feet to shimmy up the corner of the restaurant to the roof, a move that Mal would have thought impossible, except that River excelled at impossible.

She leapt from the roof over the security field, catching the edge of the solid field with one hand, using the momentum to shove away from the field and drop to the ground. Mal knew that while these sort of fields were more or less just like any other wall, they gave out a mild electrical charge, and River's hand was no doubt nicely burned. Still, that didn't faze her. She knocked two of the feds flat, ducked under a third, grabbing his stunner gun as she went, and swiftly pulled him in front of her, using him as a shield while she shot two more feds with the stunner. There were still numerous feds standing, and more fed vehicles were racing toward her.

River dropped the stunner and made a break down the street, swinging around the restaurant and disappearing from Mal's sight, while the feds pursued. He had little doubt she'd make a clean getaway. He, on the other hand, was going to have to find a way out of this trap fast. Wouldn't be but a few minutes before the feds had River identified from the restaurant's security feed, and if they found out who _he _was, it wouldn't be long before someone with security clearance identified their association.

"Jayne!"

"I'm here, Mal. The two crazies, ain't, though. They took off after they blew a hole through the kid down there."

"Bennett? Iain?"

There was no response from them, which led Mal to believe they'd dumped their transceivers.

River, however, was still there. "I got away from the feds. I'm going after Bennett and Iain. If they find Velgese and learn what's really—"

Zoe's voice filtered through Mal's earpiece again, cutting River off. "Um, sir? Think we got a problem."

"Now what?"

"They've got us landlocked."

This just kept getting better and better. "_He chu-sheng za-jiao de zang-huo_!"

"Got fed ships comin' into port, too. Lots of 'em."

Mal, having learned much the past months about River's training at the Academy, asked, "River, you know how to get rid of a landlock?"

"I…yes. I would have to hack into the security system. I just need to get on the cortex."

"Then do it. Whatever your friends do here's their business; we got problems of our own. Meantime, Zoe—get Kaylee and the doc off the boat and lock it down. Don't need you gettin' snatched by the feds. Might be Simon knows somewhere you can hide a spell, till we figure out how the _hell _we're gonna get off this rock. Jayne, you get back to port, do what you can to help 'em and _lay low._"

The feds had the backdoor patio surrounded, which likely meant they were also guarding the front door of the restaurant, and they lowered the security field. Mal ripped the radio out of his ear and dropped it on the ground, grinding it under the heel of one shoe. Much as he didn't want to cut himself off from his crew, he also didn't want the feds finding out he was talking to them. He had to hope, for now, that River and Zoe could handle their respective tasks. He still had no idea how he was going to reclaim _Serenity, _but he'd cross that bridge when he came to it.

He turned around and found himself face-to-face with that gorram woman again, and he knew from the way she was staring at him that she'd heard every word he'd said. "Who are you?" she demanded.

Mal kept one eye on the feds as they began moving people into groups. "Could ask the same of you."

"How do you know River Tam?"

"How do _you_?" Mal countered.

The woman stared at him a long moment. "She's my daughter." Her gaze flicked to the approaching feds. "I'm Regan Tam. Tell me who you are, and I might be able to help you."

"Help me? Lady, it's your fault we're in this mess—"

"You have about twenty seconds until the feds are here."

Mal hadn't a clue what this woman—River's mother, of all people—thought she could do to help, but he reminded himself he really knew nothing about the Tam parents, and might be she had some sort of say with the feds. "She's my pilot. River's been flyin' on my boat for quite some time."

"I heard you mention Simon a moment ago. Simon Tam?"

Mal just gazed at her as the feds reached them and shuffled them into a group with several other people. Another fed was running a scanner over all of their eyes. "Great," Mal muttered. "My day couldn't get any worse."

Sure enough, when the fed had processed his retinal signature, he raised his eyebrows. "Captain Malcolm Reynolds. Bound by law five times for various crimes." He looked more closely at Mal. "Never convicted. We have a probl—"

The fed was cut off by his superior, who called out, "We're taking everyone to Central Authority for questioning." He looked very grim. "We have a situation."

:-:-:

River fled the restaurant struggling to maintain a firm grip on her thoughts and her composure. She felt as though she'd been slammed with a deep well of ideas and information.

_Focus on the goal, _she told herself. _Mal wants the landlock off the ship; get it off. Make sure Simon and the others are all right, make sure Mal is safe, then deal with Velgese._

She was stunned by what she had learned from Ari Velgese's mind, and worried about what Bennett and Iain would do. They had heard River say that it was all a lie, and when she heard Jayne say they were gone, she had no doubt that they had gone after Velgese to find out _what _the truth was. What they would do to her once they found out…well, River wasn't sure she wanted to know.

Politics. River had met a lot of politicians in her life, and most of them had to learn to lie very convincingly to get into their positions. After living in a school that was made up of lies, surrounded by people who lied to themselves and the outside world, after living for months not knowing what was real and what wasn't—and sometimes still seeing things around her differently from others—the truth was very important to River.

She hated politics.

Ari Velgese had spun a very convincing-sounding story to tell Mal about Blue Sun and the Academy, and parts of it were true, which River hated even more. Half-truths were just as bad as a lie; worse, because pieces of truth often sounded the most convincing.

It was true that Parliament had been unable to get information about Blue Sun out of the other Academy subjects. It was true that they didn't know much about Blue Sun's internal regime, but they knew enough, more than Ari Velgese had led Mal to believe. And it was true that Blue Sun _had _given Parliament a hard time when they closed the Academy—but the clincher was that Parliament hadn't even really shut it down. They had decided that Blue Sun was too dangerous, that if they ever gained complete control of the test subjects at the Academy, Parliament wouldn't be able to stand against them.

So Parliament had acted first. They had simply been going to move the students to a new facility, one unknown to Blue Sun. They hadn't expected Iain to escape, to rescue Bennett. That had been the flaw to their plan. After speaking to the Academy psychologist, they had concluded that Bennett and Iain's first act would likely be to try to help the other students—so they put the other students in psych wards, and then staged Blue Sun taking them from the hospitals. Procuring Blue Sun logos for uniforms and vehicles had been easy, and since the people they hired to do the transporting _thought _they were working for Blue Sun, so did Bennett and Iain. They had done it to turn Bennett and Iain against Blue Sun. To turn River against them, if she were to get word of it.

The new facility really was on Osiris, and it had been Parliament's plan to try to get hold of River on Osiris. They still saw her as a threat, but since they had been unable to stop her through force, they had tried different, sugar-coated methods to try to lure her here. They had said they needed _help, _needed information, needed to find the other students.

Lies.

The only part Blue Sun played in this was that Parliament really was battling them—literally. Bennett had been right when she said some of the students were sent out to hunt down the missing students, but others had been sent to hunt down and kill Blue Sun agents—agents from the department that had experimented on them.

Power went to the ones who had the Academy students. Turn the students against Blue Sun, Parliament had a chance of becoming the dominant power.

River hated that, too. She was sick and tired of being a pawn in the Alliance's great scheme of command. She was tired of all the trouble it brought to Simon, and to Mal, and to everyone else on _Serenity_. She was _happy _where she was, and she just wanted to be left _alone_. She had found freedom, a strange, different, wonderful freedom on _Serenity. _The other students deserved freedom, too.

_Iain and Bennett killed Hiro. He'll never experience that kind of freedom. _River was still reeling from that—not only her encounter with Hiro—but that Iain and Bennett had killed him. She had seen Hiro's mind—a hunter on a mission. His will, his inhibitions, his very _self _had been stamped and crushed, and River desperately wanted to believe it had been buried somewhere deep inside his damaged, mutilated mind, but the fact was—she couldn't be sure. And now she never would be sure.

And on top of all _that_ had been the appearance of her mother. That had been a horrible shock. She had seen things in her mother's mind, too, so quick and jumbled that it only half made sense. But she had seen lies—lies told, lies believed, and the Alliance couldn't _do _this, they couldn't _use _people and _lie all the time._

River stopped beside a cortex interface outside a building, sucking in a deep breath, swiping tears out of her eyes and focusing on her original goal.

It took her three minutes to hack into the central security system and lift the landlock not only on _Serenity_, but on all the ships in port, to avoid suspicions as to why only one would be free. Maybe it would add a little chaos to the investigation. During that time, she listened to Zoe saying that she, Simon, and Kaylee had managed to get out of the port before the feds closed them in a trap. They were safe, for now.

River had just finished lifting the landlock when one of the numerous viewing screens in Capital City began broadcasting news of the restaurant attack. River ducked her head and walked through the other pedestrians stopping to watch the news, expecting that her face would pop up on the screen at any moment.

Instead, the first thing she heard was, "…the security feed around the restaurant was apparently malfunctioning during the disaster at the Guangxi restaurant in downtown Capital City."

Malfunctioning? Unlikely. It was more likely that Velgese hadn't wanted to be seen on camera meeting with one of the Academy students and that she or someone else had disconnected it.

"From what we know, two people—a man and a woman—disrupted the peace when they started a physical fight, which ended in the death of one. The second participant escaped the security field around the restaurant, though at present we do not know _how_."

And probably never would know, if the feds had anything to say about it. Wouldn't do good for morale to scare the citizens with stories of girls who climbed buildings and jumped the fences.

"Distinguished Parliament representative Ari Velgese was apparently present during the fight. The only solid information we have at this time is that federal troops are perusing Capital City's docking port, on Representative Velgese's information. Unfortunately, before she could tell federal troops what ship she suspected had played a part in this upheaval, she was apparently abducted. Her bodyguards were found assassinated not far from Guangxi. Eyewitnesses at the Guangxi restaurant have been taken to Central Authority for questioning."

_Iain and Bennett._

"All ships have been temporarily landlocked until each can be cleared of suspicion. We will continue to bring you information as we have it."

River smiled grimly. _They aren't landlocked anymore._

Zoe radioed in then to say that Jayne had met up with them, and River allowed herself to breathe properly. Her face _wasn't _plastered all over the screens, and the only ones who could identify her from the fight were Ari Velgese, her mother, and Mal.

Mal and her mother were being held at Central Authority, the local federal holding building—not to be confused with central authority, the Alliance judicial courts. Velgese had likely been nabbed by Bennett and Iain, and the Parliament had the other students locked up in a hole _here on this very world _or out hunting Blue Sun agents.

River looked sideways, down the familiar streets of Capital City, and pressed her lips together in determination. It was time Parliament got it through their heads that they couldn't keep meddling with people, playing God with their lives.

It was time they stopped meddling with her.


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

"Captain Malcolm Reynolds." The fed sitting in front of Mal, one Major Rellis, peered down at the screen in his hand. "What would a man of your status be doing at the Guangxi restaurant? What would you be doing on Osiris at all?"

"Business," Mal said, leaning back and folding his hands behind his head.

"Business," Rellis repeated skeptically. "What sort of business?"

"The sort that's mine and not yours," Mal replied.

"You understand the seriousness of the situation here?"

"Let's see…accordin' to the news, you got a dead kid, a missin' girl, a kidnapped Parliament representative, assassinated bodyguards, and half a dozen ships lightin' off of this world 'cause of a mishap with the landlocks, muddlin' up your investigation…anythin' I'm missin'?"

"Captain Reynolds, I have neither the time nor the patience for games. I've seen your records—you were a Browncoat."

"That was a long time ago." So far, Mal had been very fortunate. The fact that River hadn't been caught on camera would have been a miracle, if Mal believed in miracles. Each person on his boat was listed in the cortex registry, now including the Tams. So that had raised a flag with Rellis, who had pointed out that Simon and River had been wanted fugitives until recently. Mal had retorted that they weren't _now. _

Right now, the Alliance's insistence on secrecy concerning the Academy played to his advantage. No one knew _what _Simon and River had been wanted for. The major had no idea River's capabilities. So far, the cards were in his favor.

Aside from being in a federal holding building, of course.

"Captain Reynolds, if you had nothing to hide, you would not mind telling me your business. You could save yourself a lot of time by simply answering my questions."

"I told you—"

Fortunately for Rellis, the door to the interrogation room opened, sparing him from starting the argument all over again. An aide came in and whispered something to Rellis, who nodded and stood to his feet. "Come with me."

"Where we goin'?" Mal asked, not moving.

"Captain Reynolds, you are already in a universe of trouble. If I were you, I would cooperate, or you just might find yourself being charged with treason."

"Hmm. Never been charged with that one before." Still, Mal figured he might as well save himself the trouble of being dragged out of here by fed lackeys, and stood slowly to his feet.

He was led out to the lobby, where, to his surprise, Regan Tam stood, flanked by two federal officers.

Major Rellis walked up to her and nodded respectfully. "I apologize for the inconvenience of bringing you down here, Councilor, but we did have a few questions."

_Councilor?_

Regan Tam nodded stiffly. "I understand why it had to be done. I trust you have everything you need from him?"

"Yes, Councilor."

"Thank you. I wish you good fortune with the rest of your investigation." Regan motioned to Mal, who followed her, rather disbelieving. Neither spoke until they were out on the street, walking away from Central Authority. They turned a corner and stopped, and Mal turned to Simon and River's mother. "You're a councilor?"

"For the past two years, yes. And that, Captain Reynolds, just saved you from further interrogation and possibly jail time. As far as they are concerned, I was meeting with you at the Guangxi. From there, they seemed to assume that I knew _both _my children are on your ship. So what I would like to know, Captain, is exactly _what _is going on here. I just saw my daughter for the first time in _four and a half years_. She fought like…I don't even know who fights like that! And the security field—I want answers _now._"

Normally, Mal would've told anyone who was so demanding to shove it and walked away, but Regan Tam had gotten him out of a sticky spot, and that was worth something. Still, the fact that he'd heard nothing about her from River or Simon in the nearly two years they'd been on _Serenity _meant he still knew nothing about her—what kind of woman she was. Sure, River and Simon were decent folk, but the apple sometimes fell far from the tree.

Regan crossed her arms and stared at him. "Captain, my husband and I have been looking for River since Simon took her from the Academy. Private investigators—"

"Since Simon took her," Mal repeated incredulously. "What the _hell _did the Alliance tell you about your kids?"

Regan looked at him cautiously. "Simon…you have to understand. He is a brilliant man, a brilliant doctor. He and River were always very close…"

"I've noticed that myself."

"When River went away to the Academy, Simon began to get…paranoid. He was convinced she was sending secret messages in her letters; he even got arrested. We were _worried _about him. The stress was obviously starting to get to him. He was ruining his reputation, his status …not to mention River's chances at school, and our positions…"

"Didn't you never think he might be on to somethin'? That River might _actually_ be in trouble?"

"No. It was a government-sponsored school! We got letters from her, and when Simon started on with his conspiracy theories, we even spoke with some of her instructors. We even talked with River once. She sounded tired, but _fine._"

"Why didn't you ever ask to see her?" Mal demanded.

"Government academies don't allow visitors," Regan told him.

"Well, ain't that convenient."

"Simon moved out after he got arrested. He didn't speak to us after that, not for months, and then one day I got a call from River's school—they said that Simon had come and taken her away. I spoke with the hospital where Simon worked, and they said that Simon had left without warning."

Mal raised his eyebrows. How thick could some people get? "And you believed the _go se_ that the Alliance fed you over what your own son said?"

Regan looked frustrated. "It sounded crazy! River was _adjusting, _her letters said she had started to make _friends…_ The government put warrants out for Simon and River. Gabriel—my husband—tried to have them removed—"

Mal smiled sardonically. "Bad on the rep, I would imagine. But that don't explain why River was on the warrants, if Simon was the one wanted."

"The Academy said River had taken something of theirs when she left—they wouldn't tell us what. I firmly believe it was Simon's influence. I don't know what it was, but River never would have…she would have done anything for Simon. And Simon—by the time he left, I really didn't know him anymore. I never would have thought the stress would have made him that unstable…"

Mal shook his head in disbelief. "That is the biggest bunch of _fei hua_ I've ever heard in my life, and if you knew some of what I've heard, you'd truly appreciate that." He looked around, not at all liking the idea of standing so close to Central Authority. "I can tell you what it was River took, but it sure weren't the Academy's."

"What?" If Mal wasn't mistaken, Regan Tam sounded a mite desperate. Desperate for answers, most like.

"Herself."

Before Regan could puzzle that one out, River herself materialized from between two buildings across the street. Mal watched her swiftly cross the street, but she did it so quietly that Regan jumped when she noticed her. The two Tam women looked at each other for a long moment, and then Mal broke the silence. "Didn't I tell you—"

River's eyes flickered to Mal. "An hour. An hour, and then worry. It's been fifty-nine minutes. I thought I was going to have to break you out of Central Authority."

Mal rolled his eyes. Typical River, counting the actual minutes. "Your mama did that for me."

River's eyes traveled back to her mother's, searching, and then Regan broke down and threw her arms around River. "You're all grown up, I can't believe it." She took a step back, still gripping River's shoulders. "River, you have no idea how worried…what happened to you?"

"I know you want answers. I know, now. I know what you believe. I promise, when this is all over, I'll find you and Daddy. I'll tell you the truth." River grabbed her mother's hands. "You can't get caught in the web." She let go of her mother and turned to Mal urgently. "There's a lot that needs to be done. I don't think we have a lot of time."

Mal had long learned to listen to River's instincts, and he shrugged at Regan. "Guess your answers'll have to wait."

:-:-:

River led Mal through the streets of Capital City, moving as quickly as possible toward the areas of the city that weren't networked, where there was no surveillance—blackout zones. Simon had spent a lot of time in blackout zones looking for help to get her out of the Academy, and had led the crew to one of these places, a little tavern called the Moonshuttle on a forgotten street in a forgotten section of the city.

"River." Simon enveloped her in his arms as soon as she entered the tavern. "Are you all right?"

River allowed herself to relax against Simon for a moment, drawing comfort from his presence. "I'm tired," she managed. She was still mentally exhausted, and it showed when she explained what she had learned from Ari Velgese's mind, because she realized she was speaking metaphorically a few times. It was still difficult sometimes, especially when she was stressed out, to match brain patterns with verbal idiom. Thoughts with words. But the crew was able to figure out what she meant. Well, Jayne got confused, but the others understood.

"I have to go," she said when she'd finished. "I have to find Iain and Bennett. I think we can—"

"Don't think you're gonna have to look far for Iain and Bennett," Kaylee suddenly said quietly, pointing at the screen in the tavern, broadcasting the local news.

River turned warily to see none other than Bennett and Iain on the screen. They must have patched into a local news signal. They were in some sort of dark room, and on her knees on the ground between them was Ari Velgese, where Bennett held a gun to her head. River wound her way through the patrons of the tavern until she could hear what was being said.

Iain was talking. "…will stop, right now. We will _not _be hunted anymore. We will live our lives free from Parliament, free from Blue Sun. If you do not stop looking for us—" Iain looked grimly at Bennett, and without any hesitation, she shot Ari Velgese in the head "—we will hunt down every single member of Parliament, or anyone else who tries to bother us. We'll show the Alliance _exactly _what a success their _program _was."

The screen went blank for a moment, and then switched to a stunned-looking anchorman. River turned away, not bothering to listen to what the news had to say about it.

Jayne was the first to speak. "Well, guess we ain't gotta worry 'bout Velgese no more." Everyone turned to stare at him, and he shrugged. "What?"

"They can't just go on a killing spree," Simon said disbelievingly.

"This'll get publicity," Mal said. "If the project was made public, it might discourage the Alliance from huntin' y'all anymore. They learned a hard lesson with Miranda—secrets can hurt 'em, especially ones they want hid."

River didn't necessarily agree with the way Iain and Bennett were going about this, but she understood _why_. She couldn't dwell on it, anyway; there was other unfinished business. "I might be able to help," she said slowly. "There are still some students who aren't…finished with their training, and they're locked up here on Osiris. If I can—"

"Darlin', your last idea didn't go so good," Mal pointed out.

"Just because my mother was there. Unexpected."

"What?" Simon stared at River. "Mother was _where_?"

"We'll talk about your _yuchun _parents later," Mal said. He studied River for a moment, and then nodded. "All right. But we're gonna do this my way."

"Yeah, 'cause your plans always work out so much better," Jayne said.

Mal gave him a sharp look. "We're in a tight spot here. We're on a gorram Core world, and we got more trouble'n we've had in a while. So pay attention, 'cause we're gonna get this _done _before we all wind up dead."

Simon sighed. "Is it just me, or do we say that a lot?"

:-:-:

The Parliament had moved the Academy—if it could be called that anymore—to an underground bunker out in the mountains. It took two hours to get away from Capital City and the surrounding smaller cities, and out to the mountainous region of Osiris, a place where the Tams had gone for two different vacations as a child. Of course, River's parents had taken her and Simon to an expensive resort, not to a wilderness area that showed little outward sign of civilization. The only thing marking any sort of humanity in this area was the small metal building nestled at the bottom of one mountain.

They had rented a little two-person transport from one of the 'businesses' in the blackout zone. River had wanted to come to this facility by herself, thinking it would be safer for everyone, but Mal had refused to let her come alone.

Recon, Mal had said. Just recon, find out all they could about the security system, how many people were there, if she thought there was _any _chance in hell—his words—that any sort of rescue was even possible. It had taken two years, he'd reminded her, for Simon to break her out of the old Academy.

River experienced a very weird sense of déjà vu as she carefully eyed the building, which she knew was because she had seen this place in Bennett's memory. She closed her eyes and reached out with her mind. She could hear Mal's thoughts beside her, and allowed them to filter through her brain, listening for the minds she knew had to be inside the building.

Instead, she found…nothing. No brainwaves sending out thoughts, no sign of activity at all. Frowning, she let her mind wander further, down below the surface, and then gasped and reeled backward, straight into Mal.

Mal laid a steadying hand on her shoulder. "Trouble?"

"Dead," River whispered. "All dead." Her mind was overwhelmed with images, smells, sounds…screaming and writhing, bleeding ears and eyes, mouths and fingernails…the dead told tales, too, and their voices echoed over and over in her head. She pressed her hands against her ears. "Stop, please stop."

Mal squeezed her shoulder, his voice coming very muffled through her hands and mixing with the cacophony of screams in her head. "Stay focused with me, River. I need to know what's goin' on."

"Too late," she whispered, pulling her trembling hands off of her ears. "Too late, they're all dead."

"Gathered that, darlin'," Mal said. "You got an inklin' how?"

River knew exactly what caused the death she was seeing in her head. "Blue Sun." She drew a deep, shuddering breath. "I need to get out of here. Please. I can't think. Too many voices, too loud. Screaming…"

"All right, just you hold on. We're pullin' back."

They retreated to the transport, and River collapsed on the seat, crossing her arms over her stomach and fighting the urge to throw up. The voices were still in her mind, but fainter now, background noise. She knew Mal was still waiting for an explanation.

River organized her thoughts so she could speak words that made sense. "I think Parliament underestimated Blue Sun." She had a sudden, absurd urge to laugh, more out of desperation than anything. "They're destroying each other. Destroying…" She swallowed and said thickly, "See-saw, back and forth…Parliament hunted Blue Sun, so Blue Sun hunted the new facility…destroyed it."

"How?" Mal asked. "Weren't this place a top-security facility?"

"Top-security doesn't stop Blue Sun agents. That's why Parliament wanted to get rid of them so badly. So badly...different, they're different."

"Define 'different.'"

"Experiments," River managed. "Things implanted in their brains…bad radio signals." That hadn't come out right. She tried again, speaking slowly. "It was impossible to read Blue Sun agents like anyone else—like trying to listen to a very bad wave, bits coming in and out. They never worked alone, always in pairs…two by two, always. They always wore blue gloves. I don't know why." She looked intently at Mal. "I've felt them kill before, with instruments of destruction that don't hurt them because they're changed, because of things implanted in their brains. Hemorrhage, death…"

"What about the other students here? Did Blue Sun kill them, too?"

"I don't know," River said despairingly. "Too. Many. _Voices._"

Mal watched her, considering, and then he nodded decisively. "Think we're gonna have to go in there and see what we can find. Might be somethin' we can use to help ourselves in this _xi-niu_ government war. You think you can handle it?"

Going into that place was the last thing River wanted to do, but she was the only one who could identify other students or hack into the computer system. "I can do it."

:-:-:

Mal got a taste of what was to come when he and River walked into the building, which was wide open—security was shut off. In fact, it looked like power to the whole base was out. The bodies of four guards were lying on the floor, the blood that had streamed from their facial orifices crusted to their faces, sticky pools of blood all over the floor.

River covered her mouth and nose with one hand, and Mal walked over and looked at one of the bodies. "Been dead a few days," he said quietly.

River was shaking like a leaf, but Mal thought it more from everything she was dealing with in her head than anything else.

There was more of the same in the underground bunker. They soon discovered there were three floors underneath the building, and the whole place was lit with emergency lights along the floor, which only made everything eerier. There had been a lot of people staffing this place. Doctors, nurses, orderlies, security guards, all dead. The stench was overpowering, and River started gagging.

The smell brought up a whole well of memories from the war that Mal would've preferred never to think on again. He pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and handed it to River, who immediately tied it over her mouth and nose.

They started on the bottom floor. As they worked their way down the corridors, River whispered, "It's different."

Mal turned to look at her. His first thought was 'because they're all dead?', but he knew that wouldn't exactly be the best thing to say to her right now.

If she heard this in his mind, she ignored it. "It's smaller," she said, looking down the hallway. "Much, much smaller. Not so…hi-tech."

It looked plenty hi-tech to Mal, but he hadn't ever seen the old Academy.

River stopped outside one closed door. She leaned flat against it, her palms and one ear pressed against it. "In here," she whispered. She pulled away from the door and fell back a few steps. "I can't go in," she said, her eyes wide. "I can't…"

"Why don't you go sit down a minute," Mal said. He pulled out the gun that River had taken from her pal Hiro and opened the door, then peered inside. There was a doctor, couple of orderlies, and a girl he was guessing to be one of River's fellow abductees. They'd died the same way as everyone else. Mal stepped up to the girl's body and looked down. A kid with long black hair—couldn't be any older than fourteen. "_Wang ba dan,_" he muttered.

More disturbing than this was the fact that the girl was strapped to a chair of some sort, and she had needles sticking out of her head, wires running to various parts of her body. A tray full of surgical instruments rested beside her, and Mal recalled Ari Velgese's words to him. _"I do not necessarily think the doctors at the Academy went about the project in a proper fashion. Nor do my comrades newly elected to Parliament."_

Mal had been lied to before, more times than he could count, but the very fact that Velgese and her fellow 'new' Parliament members had approved _this _told him that had been the biggest lie of all. Or maybe they did _different _procedures that they thought were better off, but this wasn't right. And the thought that this sort of thing had likely happened to River…well, it was one thing to envision what had been done to her and another to see actual examples of it. He could only imagine what it would do to River to see this.

As if on cue, Mal heard a choked sound from behind him, and turned to see that River had made her way to the door and was leaning on the frame, tears running down her cheeks and soaking into the handkerchief wrapped around half of her face. "No," she gasped. And then she rushed into the room and began yanking needles out of the girl's head, ripping out wires, muttering in Chinese and English, crying the whole time.

Mal hesitated a moment, and then laid a hand on her back. "River."

River pulled an especially large needle out of the girl's forehead and laid the palm of her hand on her forehead. "I'm sorry," she whispered to the body. "I'm so sorry." Her breath hitched, and she turned and collapsed against Mal.

Mal wrapped one arm around her, half-supporting her trembling little body. River looked up at him, a light in her eyes fiercer than any Mal'd ever seen from her. "I didn't know her," she said. "She must have come after… I don't even know her name, but I can hear her… Hear echoes…" She pulled away from Mal and straightened slowly. "I need to finish this." She turned and headed out of the room, and Mal followed.

By the time they had been in every room in the small facility, the body count was at one hundred and seven. Four of those were bodies of the Alliance's young test subjects. River knew two of them. With those four deaths, plus Hiro's, that left five assassins out and about.

River discovered that the security feed had been turned off during the attack, a trademark of Blue Sun agents, but she managed to get the power and security feed turned back on. She got the cortex linked, and as soon as that was done, she worked her way into the Academy's files. She pulled up the files on all of the students, including her own, files that listed details of what had been done to the students, signatures of Parliament folk—old and new—who had approved it. Files on Blue Sun and the part they had played in the whole thing.

Mal knew the only thing allowing her to sit here in this place full of death was the driving need to _do _something about all the death. When she was ready, she recorded a message and sent it out to various people. Then she sent out another wave, while Mal stood behind her and watched.

A woman appeared on the screen. "CorVue Regional Office, where your news is our business! How may I direct your wave?" she asked perkily. Then she frowned slightly, no doubt wondering why half of River's face was obscured.

River looked at the camera. "I have a story for you. It relates to the death of Parliament representative Ari Velgese." She pushed several buttons on the console.

"Do you have—" The woman's voice trailed off as she saw the images from the security feed that River had patched through, images from only one room in the building. The woman looked shocked. "What—"

River pressed another button, and all of the files she had put together began to transfer to CorVue's offices. Then, leaving the security feed patched into CorVue's signal, she stood up and looked at Mal. She didn't say anything, but her look pleaded with him.

Mal nodded, and together, they picked their way over the bodies and left the charnel house that this place had become. Night had set in outside, and a cool breeze blew down from the mountains. River ripped the handkerchief off her face and turned to face the wind, her eyes closed, and Mal felt no small amount of relief himself, being out in fresh air.

"We oughtta get back to the city tonight. Got the feelin' this place'll be crawlin' with officials soon as they trace the security feed."

River nodded mutely and made her way back toward the transport.

"I can drive if you ain't feelin' up to it."

River gave him one of her looks—a shadow of one of her normal expressions, but it still effectively relayed her skepticism. She straddled the front seat of the transport. "There's a reason you never drive the mule."

"'Cause I got other folk paid to do the flyin'," Mal said.

That got a tiny smile from River. She shook her head and turned on the transport while Mal settled in behind her. Before River drove away, she turned her head and looked at Mal sideways. "Do you think it will make a difference?"

"River, I think if CorVue publicizes those files it'll make a universe of difference. Parliament's got Iain and Bennett's threat, and with that message you sent out, might be they finally decide the same thing Blue Sun obviously decided."

"That we're not worth meddling with anymore," River said softly.

It was an incredibly stupid bunch of people that hadn't realized that after Miranda. If they'd just left well enough alone, Blue Sun wouldn't have had reason to destroy this place, and River wouldn't have been able to send out all those files. Parliament just kept shooting themselves in the foot.

River threw the throttle forward, and they headed away from the mountains, back toward Capital City. "I hope so."


	9. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

"I could get used to this." Jayne threw his feet up on the table in the hotel room and grabbed a peach from the bowl.

"Best not. We'll be off this world tomorrow, and good riddance." Mal finished tying his boots just as a knock sounded on the door. He walked over and opened it, finding Zoe and Kaylee on the other side. "Jayne, let's go."

"Aw, what do I gotta meet their folks for?"

"It's called _manners, _Jayne," Kaylee told him. She looked at Mal. "Simon and River wanted a minute by their own selves. I guess—oh, never mind, they're comin'."

Simon and River walked out of Simon and Kaylee's room, River looking a fair sight calmer than Simon, who seemed terribly anxious. He kept fiddling with the buttons on his shirt.

Kaylee walked over and took his hands in hers. "It's gonna be fine, Simon. Just relax."

Simon looked at her incredulously, but she was already leading him away, down the stairs. Zoe followed, and after Mal motioned a grumbling Jayne to go, he headed after them. River fell into step next to him, and he glanced at her. "You ain't said much the last two days."

A wan smile lifted one corner of River's mouth. "I think I said enough the day before that to last a while."

As if to prove her point, the news story that had been the main story the past couple of days popped up on the screen they were passing in the hallway. Mal truly hated the amount of screens all over the Core planets—couldn't get away from the news even if you wanted to. The main headline on the screen read: CONTINUING CORRUPTION IN THE GOVERNMENT. It was followed by the details of the familiar story, images of River, Bennett, Iain, Hiro, the little girl that had been strapped in that chair, and all of the other Academy students. Gruesome details of what had been done to the Alliance test subjects had been released, along with the names of those who had approved the project. The information on Blue Sun was a bit more limited, given that not a lot of details were known about them, but it was enough to start some major boycotts and riots. In a population that had only just begun to sink into complacency after the broadwave about Miranda, the fire of insurgency was quick to burn again.

Of course, there was also the controversy about the Academy students—the ones still living. Psychologists and medical professionals spent hours debating the ramifications of allowing them back in society, argued over whether they would be sane enough to function, or if they would become murderers or worse.

The public had been screaming for the Parliament's forced retirement—again—and at least a quarter of the Parliament had already resigned. A spokesman for Parliament made a public apology on their behalf, and the message River had sent to several government organizations and various members of Parliament had somehow fallen into the hands of the press on some planet or another, because it ended up being broadcast, too. It was only audio, and Mal couldn't count the number of times he'd heard it playing the past two days. It played yet again as he and his crew made their way down to the lobby of the hotel where the government had put them, free of charge, after the press found them in the blackout zone.

"You never learn. People don't take kindly to being treated like property. I am not your property, and neither are the others. You turned me into what I am and then you tried to kill me to keep me quiet about Miranda. That didn't work, and now you want me dead so I can't tell about the Academy, but you're too late. If you would just leave things alone, you wouldn't have anything to bury.

"So here's what's going to happen. You are going to put the five students that are still alive and under your control somewhere safe, somewhere that doctors—good doctors, healing doctors—might be able to help them. You're going to leave the rest of us alone. I am going to go my way. I am going to live my life the way I want it, and if I ever, ever get even a hint that you are coming after me or any of the other Academy students, if I even suspect that you have a hand in anything unsavory concerning the Academy, I will make it my mission in life to dig up every dirty, buried secret you have. I will open the door on all of your closets so that everyone can see the skeletons. So it would be better for everyone if you just _left it all alone._"

With the added public threat Iain and Bennett had sent out, about hunting down and killing Parliament members, the Alliance had been moving quickly to make a big deal about helping clean up the mess. They had already brought one of the five missing students to a high-security psychiatric facility on Osiris—Mal was guessing they had chosen Osiris so that River could actually bear witness to the fact that the girl was truly there. The others, River had been told, were en route to the same hospital, where a team of psychologists and doctors would be faithfully working to try to reverse their conditioning, and River was told she was 'welcome to visit them anytime.' River had already taken them up on this and gone to visit the girl Rina at the hospital.

And now there was a family reunion to deal with. Mal caught sight of River's mother sitting in the lobby, holding tightly to the hand of a man who had to be her father. Simon had come to a dead stop at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes locked on both of them. Kaylee squeezed his arm and whispered something to him.

Mal nudged River with his elbow. "Best go with your brother. He seems six ways of nervous."

"He is." River gave him the same forced smile she'd been plastering on her face the past couple of days. "I told you he takes so much looking after." She slipped past Zoe and Jayne, said something to Kaylee, and then took Simon's hand and walked toward the Tam parents, who were now standing.

Kaylee sighed happily as Gabriel Tam engulfed River in a hug and Regan put her hands on Simon's face. "Don't that just make such a pretty picture?"

Mal moved down to Kaylee and tugged on her hair. "That's your family, too, little Kaylee. We'd best get you over there so's they can have a chance to get over the shock of findin' out a little Tam's on the way."

"Oh, I—" Now Kaylee was the one who sounded nervous, which Mal found quite funny, since Kaylee was the most people-oriented person he knew, and he'd never seen her nervous about meeting anyone. She slowly followed Mal over to the Tams, Jayne and Zoe behind them.

Mal stopped, his arm around Kaylee's shoulder, close enough to hear the reunion. River's mother was crying and hugging her now. "We're so sorry, darling. We had no idea… How could we… We never would have…"

Simon and his father seemed unsure of what to do—Simon's face was a blank slate as he gazed at Gabriel Tam. It was a long moment before Gabriel spoke. "I'm sorry, son."

Simon's expression flickered for a moment, and Mal thought he saw anger and a bit of disbelief. "Yes. I suppose you are. Maybe you would have _come _for us if you'd really believed the truth."

"Simon," Regan whispered.

Gabriel Tam drew a deep breath and straightened. "I said what I did because I thought you were—"

"I know what you thought," Simon said.

"Simon, please don't." River stepped forward and put her hands on Simon's arms. "Don't you see? The lies were everywhere, but they're gone for now, and we can be free again."

Simon gazed at River for a long moment, and then nodded slightly. He looked back at his father and slowly held out his hand. Gabriel clasped it in his own, seeming relieved.

Regan had noticed Mal and the rest of the crew, and she stepped forward, a smile on her face. "Captain Reynolds. This is my husband, Gabriel."

Mal nodded at Gabriel Tam and shook his hand. "This is the rest of the crew. That's Jayne Cobb and Zoe Washburne, and this here's Kaylee." He gave poor nervous Kaylee's shoulder a squeeze.

Regan's eyes flickered down to Kaylee's bulging belly. "Oh! Is she your—"

"Oh, hell, no," Mal said, as Zoe chuckled behind him.

"Kaylee is my wife."

Both Tam parents turned to stare at Simon, who held out a hand to Kaylee. She moved away from Mal to stand with Simon and endure the incredulous and dubious gazes of his parents. They both seemed too shocked for words.

"_Married_?" Regan finally gasped. "Why that's…" She gathered herself together. "That's wonderful," she managed. "Isn't it wonderful, Gabriel?"

Gabriel Tam blinked, and his smile seemed a bit forced. "Of course. Wonderful."

"And the…baby? It is yours, Simon?"

Kaylee's eyebrows rose, a look of indignation replacing any anxiety that had been there, and Simon's eyes narrowed slightly. "Of course it is, Mother."

"I'm sorry, there's just still…so much I don't know. How long have you been on Captain Reynolds ship?"

"One year, eight months, fourteen days," River replied promptly. "Since Simon rescued me from the Academy."

"Captain Reynolds was good enough to keep us on board," Simon said, with a glance at Mal. "Despite the…trouble it brought."

"Well, that's over now," Gabriel said. "We'll have plenty of time to discuss it." There was a heavy silence as Simon and River exchanged glances. "You are staying, now that this is over? Simon, I'm sure the hospital would have no trouble hiring you back on, under the circumstances, and River—"

"I'm not staying, Daddy," River whispered. Both of her parents were staring at her now. "This isn't my home."

"You can't…" Regan glanced at Mal, then back at River. "You can't mean to say that you're going to stay on Captain Reynolds's ship?"

"That's exactly what I mean to say."

Regan turned to Simon, who shrugged. His eyes met a beaming Kaylee's, and River smiled at him. "Sorry, Mother," he said. "I already have a job."

:-:-:

Mal couldn't get much sleeping done that night—his mind was racing over everything that he needed to do as soon as he got on _Serenity _the next morning. Round about the early morning hours, he gave up on sleep and decided a trip to the bar downstairs might be the ticket to helping him relax. He yanked on his shirt and trudged downstairs. The hotel was quiet, though a few people were still scattered here and there, and several patrons were sitting at the hotel's restaurant and bar. One of them, Mal noted, not really surprised, was River. He _was_ a mite surprised to see her at the bar, though, and made his way over to her, sliding onto the stool beside hers.

"Hello," River said, without looking at him, twisting her glass around in circles.

Mal pulled it away from her and picked it up to sniff it. "Wine, hmm? Works in a pinch, but not really my thing." He ordered his own drink, something a bit stronger than wine, and took a gulp as soon as the bartender handed it to him.

"Not really mine, either," River admitted, reclaiming the glass and taking a sip. "I prefer Jayne's ale, actually."

Mal raised his eyebrows. "When did you ever have Jayne's ale?"

"He gave me some once."

"Gave it—to _you_?" Mal couldn't quite wrap his head around that.

River tilted her head and gazed at him. "He was very drunk." Then she turned back to her wine, her hair blocking Mal from seeing her face. She was quiet for a long moment, and then she finally said, "I saw Bennett."

Mal blinked and set down his drink. "Did you, now? When was this?"

"Right after we came to the hotel. She came to see me."

"You didn't say nothin'."

River shrugged. "Everyone has a lot on their minds. Simon was so tense about seeing Mother and Daddy again…he still doesn't forgive them. He tried. For me. But he's still angry. Maybe he'll always be, a little."

Mal, for his part, understood why Simon was angry, and thought in his place, he wouldn't be so forgiving, either.

"I know why Bennett and Iain did what they did. Why they killed Hiro—not just because he was trying to kill me; they were freeing him. They thought death would be preferable to the way he was living. I can even understand that. When I saw Rina at the psychiatric hospital, her mind was the same. Lost without a mission, a purpose." River's sniffle betrayed her calm voice, and Mal reached out to sweep her hair over her shoulder so he could see her face. Sure enough, there were tears on it. River rested her cheek on the back of Mal's hand before he could pull it back, and she said, "I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Why do you think something's wrong with you, sweetheart?"

"I've seen death before. I've _killed _before. More times than most people my age, more times than anyone should have to. They'll always be in my head, in my memory. But these deaths, in the Academy…I can't sleep, Mal. Every time I close my eyes I see them. Every time I sleep I dream I'm one of them. I could have been one of them. Or I could have been one of the ones locked in a psychiatric ward."

"But you weren't," Mal said quietly.

River lifted her head off of his hand and stared into his eyes. "I should have been."

Mal finally thought he understood, and he put his thumb under her chin so she couldn't look away. "Don't you ever feel guilty 'cause you got a better life'n the rest. I saw what they done to that little girl in that place. I figure I got a glimpse at some of what you might've gone through, and it's more'n most can begin to imagine. You don't gotta feel shame 'cause you survived, River, _dong ma_? You got every right to find some sliver of happiness in this _le-se _'verse, if you can. You got anyone says different, you send 'em my way."

That got the first real smile that Mal had seen on River's face in several days. "You're a good man, Mal."

Mal moved his hand back to his drink. "No, I ain't. That's _why _you got anyone says different, you send 'em my way."

River laughed—a small laugh, but it was definite progress. "I can't wait to be back on _Serenity_."

"You and me both, darlin'." Mal finished off his drink and set his glass down with a heavy _thunk_. "You and me both."


	10. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

River found herself, as she so often did, sitting in the cockpit in the middle of the night, enjoying the comforting sight of the stars and the peace of dreaming minds.

Except one. Mal was awake in his room, laying out a plan in his mind for their next job and thinking that he was getting a mite hungry. Sure enough, moments later, River heard the telltale sound of his hatch opening. He headed toward the kitchen, and when he returned a few minutes later, he came to the bridge instead of his room.

"Thought you were in here," he said, sitting in his chair with his snack in hand. Then he noticed the bundle in her lap and dropped his voice to a whisper. "How'd you get babysittin' duty at this hour?"

River smiled down at her sleeping little niece. "I volunteered. She wouldn't stop screaming and Kaylee was _very _tired."

"I find it right amusin' how that baby shuts up every time you hold her."

River grinned. She smoothed her finger over the soft, soft hair on Ren's head. Simon and Kaylee had named their daughter Serenity—because of everything _Serenity _meant to both of them—but little Serenity River Tam hadn't been but a day old when Mal declared the name "too big for such a teeny girl" and took to calling her Ren. It stuck. "I love being with her," River confessed to Mal. "She's so quiet."

"Darlin', you got a boatful of people who'd take exception to that."

River laughed. "I mean in her mind. I don't mind her crying—her mind is so quiet. So simple."

The past few months had been good to the crew of _Serenity._ They left the Core, choosing to stay more toward the Outer Rim, and with no one chasing after River—aside from the occasional rabid reporter trying and failing to get interviews—it was easier to carry out what work they could get.

"You know what today is?" River asked, pulling her eyes off of Ren to look at Mal.

Mal frowned slightly. "Ren's a month old today, ain't she?"

"Yes. But it's also been two years since I woke up on _Serenity_."

"Has it, now? Well, ain't that somethin'." Mal smiled. "And still sailin'."

"I never thanked you. In the two years I've been here, I've never thanked you." Ren started to stir in River's arms, her simple, forming mind waking up, and River sensed hunger. In a minute she'd likely be screaming at the top of her lungs for Kaylee.

"You don't gotta thank me, River," Mal said quietly.

"I want to. Back on Osiris, you told me I was a survivor, but so are you. My presence here didn't make it easy for you to survive." River's memories on her early life on _Serenity _were still there, but mixed so much with the instability of her mind at the time that it seemed almost like a dream at parts. But she understood. She had done some very crazy things that would have made most, if not all, captains throw her off the first week.

Mal hadn't. If not for that, River knew that she would be dead, or worse. She wanted to say all that, but her emotions were so strong right now that she wasn't sure she'd get it out clearly, and she wanted to be perfectly clear.

And Ren was starting to make noise. River stood to her feet, carefully cradling the baby in the crook of one arm, and walked over to Mal. She leaned over and kissed him on the forehead. "Thank you."

Mal took her free hand and squeezed it. "It wouldn't be the same without you, my little albatross." Ren's piercing wail cut the air, and Mal winced.

"She wants her mommy," River said.

"Best get her there, then. And get some sleep sometime tonight—we'll be landin' on New Hall tomorrow morn for our job and I'm gonna need you on the ball."

River headed out of the cockpit. "I always am." She stopped outside Simon and Kaylee's hatch and banged on it with one fist, though she already sensed Kaylee coming to the door, no doubt having heard Ren screaming.

"This is your home, Ren," River whispered to the screeching baby. "It's a good home, with good people. You'll see."

From the room behind and below her, she heard Jayne bellow, _"Would somebody shut that baby up?"_

As Kaylee opened the hatch, River looked down at Ren and amended, "Well, mostly good people."

:-:-:

_fin!_

Hope you enjoyed reading it—I had fun writing it, and am having more fun writing the next one. :)


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